


Patched, Repaired

by R_McFart



Series: The Mending Collection [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Women, Female Uchiha Sasuke, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:54:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 65,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27978438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_McFart/pseuds/R_McFart
Summary: Takes place in the Naruto Shippuden era. Sasuke and the rest of the Konoha 12 have matured in their own rights. With Naruto's pending return to the village, Sasuke won't rest until she has taken revenge on Itachi, no matter what dangers and darkness lurk on this path.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke, Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Series: The Mending Collection [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023276
Comments: 56
Kudos: 110





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I won't be able to whip out the chapters as quickly as the previous collection, but I will make sure to keep it updated. If you enjoy the work, feel free to leave comments or kudos.
> 
> If fem-Sasuke isn't your thing, this is your reminder to kindly check out a different story! Otherwise please read and enjoy and I hope that my story can keep you entertained.

“Happy Birthday Sakura!”

The crowd of friends called out, surprising the pink-haired teen as she entered her house after a long shift at the hospital.

Ino brought out a cake, decorated in pink frosting with strawberries sliced on top.

Sasuke lit the candles, arranged in the number ‘16’ to celebrate her 16th birthday.

“How very youthful of you Sakura, to be turning such an excellent age surrounded by friends!” Lee shouted, raising his fists in victory.

His teammate TenTen didn’t bother dampening his spirits. _For some crazy reason Sakura has a crush on this hyperactive weirdo. Poor girl._

The rest of the Konoha 12, minus Naruto who was still galivanting with Jiraiya, gathered round her and started singing.

Sakura blushed. “Oh my goodness! I didn’t need you all to throw me a party!”

Sasuke smiled. “It’s rare that we’re all together, even more-so to be together on one of our birthdays. If you don’t like the attention, just pretend we’re all hanging out for no other reason than to see each other.” She shrugged.

Shikamaru picked at his ear. “What a drag, I’m only here because Ino made me come.” The rest of his friends collectively rolled their eyes. _Typical Shikamaru._

Sasuke took a seat next to Neji on the couch as the rest of the group started bickering with Shikamaru.

“Hey Neji. It’s been a while. How’s your arm?” She looked down at his arms, one of them still wrapped in white bandages.

He rubbed his left forearm and replied, “It’s much better thank you. It was my mistake letting him get so close to me.” _Those mercenaries certainly had more shinobi training than their intel had suggested._

Sasuke smirked, “Well, you handled it well. You didn’t even need my help. Although for my first mission as a jonin, I was expecting more action.” She brought a bite of cake to her mouth.

Neji scoffed. “Be thankful you only had to do recon. I was laid up for weeks afterwards.” He flexed his hand open and closed.

Ino came over and plopped herself down in between them. “Ugggh. I don’t want to hear any talk about missions, this is a time to relax, eat cake, and forget about our work.” She laid down dramatically in Sasuke’s lap.

Sasuke nodded. She could do that.

“What I really want to hear about is Sakura’s love life.” She wagged her eyebrows suggestively.

Sakura blushed and Lee looked crestfallen. “I have no love life to speak of thank you very much.” She sent a pointed glare in Ino’s direction. She moved closer to Lee and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, serving him up a slice of cake.

Sasuke tried not to pull her hair out at the sight.

Tenten locked eyes with Sasuke and gave a sympathetic wince. At least they were in it together.

Sasuke tilted her head back on the couch and played with a strand of Ino’s hair as the girl continued an animated conversation with Sakura.

_My friends are annoying, but at least they’re mine._

* * *

Sasuke walked up to her apartment. She unlocked her slot in the mail wall and grabbed a letter out. She saw the horrible chicken scratch addressing her by name and smiled.

She bound up the stairs and unlocked her door.

She flipped on the lights and ripped the envelope open.

_Sasuke. How are you? I know it has been a while since I wrote last but Pervy Sage and I have been on an amaaaazing adventure you wouldn’t believe it. We travelled to an inn town in rural Iwa-gakure and met an old man who was around for the first great ninja war. He was 104 years old and told us about a hot spring that shows you your future. So we climbed around on a bunch of different mountains searching for this hot spring and when we found it, it was just a hot spring that was being laced with hallucinogens from the mushroom root system underground nearby. Still, it was quite the time finding this place. Anyways, we are starting to make our way back. I don’t know exactly when I’ll be home but hopefully within a few months. By the way, congratulations on making jonin I always knew you could do it. Tell Sakura happy birthday from me, she really is the oldest and wisest of us. -Naruto._

She couldn’t contain the gasp that came out of her mouth. _Naruto’s coming back!_

It had been almost three years since he left. So much had happened in that time. Their classmates had all made chunin, her and Neji were jonin, and Sakura became a student of Tsunade training directly under her.

She inhaled deeply. _And I’ve been investigating potential second parties in the Uchiha Massacre._

That was a secret, one she didn’t intend on telling any one Naruto included, even though he was still on board with her revenge plan.

_I haven’t found who that second person is, but I will. They’ll pay just like Itachi will._

She had learned from her first foray into intelligence gathering those 2 and a half years ago that secrets in this village were guarded heavily. Especially secrets Danzo were concerned about.

She had learned a little bit more about that man in the years since, although Kakashi had kept tight lipped about him.

That had bothered her to no end, her best source of information was refusing to divulge his knowledge. She purposefully ignored him for weeks on end for that one. She caved though, to celebrate Sakura’s promotion to chunin and coolly acted like she hadn’t thrown a fit, casually asking him how Pakkun was getting along after his paw had gotten some stitches removed.

Sasuke had even resorted to asking Granny cat for information on Danzo, only getting a stern look and a warning to stay away from him.

Sasuke was currently in the process of finding the names of Itachi’s former ANBU associates and subordinates in order to determine if they were at all capable of assisting him in the massacre.

She had started to consider that an outsider could have assisted him, someone like his blue shark friend or another member of the Akatsuki.

That possibility was seeming much more likely, although she couldn’t figure out how someone could sneak into the village without triggering the barrier sensors.

She was interrupted by a knock on her door.

She pulled it open. “Hello?” She looked around, not seeing anyone. She felt something slither over her foot.

“Fuck.” She quickly pulled her foot back. A small red-orange corn snake looked up at her. _Anko._ She picked it up and it coiled around her hand before spitting out a tiny scroll. “Thank you.” It disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_Sasuke. Meet me outside of the Torture and Interrogation headquarters at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning._

Sasuke read the message before turning it to ash. She was used to Anko’s very ambiguous messages. She might be summoned for a three-month long mission tomorrow or just for a friendly hour of catching up with her old sensei. She sighed and looked at the clock. _It’s already 2 a.m. I stayed out later than I should have._

She crawled into bed and looked at her picture of team 7 before turning off the lights and falling asleep.

* * *

The next morning she rolled out of bed - _Why did I stay up so late?-_ and pulled on a pair of her signature black shorts with a high collared white shirt and flowing sleeves, the Uchiha symbol proudly embroidered on the back. She pulled on her thigh high black boots and tied her headband around her forehead. She left her mid-length hair hanging down at her shoulders, her bangs framing her face.

She examined herself in the mirror briefly before heading out. _Sharp and deadly. You look like a killer._

 _You look like your mother._ A voice whispered in her.

She hurried across town to meet Anko.

She arrived at precisely 9 a.m. and saw Anko just leaving the doors of the headquarters.

“Anko. Good morning.” She tilted her head in her direction.

Anko looked tired, although that wasn’t an uncommon occurrence these days. She was tasked with tracking down Orochimaru’s hiding spots.

That was her assigned mission by the Hokage but also a deeply personal mission to her. Her task forces continual failures to find him, instead only stumbling across abandoned hideouts one after another, was wearing her down.

“Good morning Sasuke.” She sighed deeply. “I called you here because you’ll be called into the Hokage’s office for a mission in the next few hours. I’m here to brief you on some of the details before you head out.”

Sasuke nodded. “I’m listening.”

Anko motioned her over to a bench. They sat down. “You’ll be heading to Suna for a few months.”

Sasuke jerked her head towards her. “Why?”

Anko took a deep breath in. “Orochimaru has been active lately, his timeline for finding a new vessel is rapidly approaching. Our sources claim he hasn’t found a replacement so it’s fair to assume that he is still interested in targeting you.” She let her breath out. “Orochimaru has never had a strong foothold in Suna. As much as it pains me to say, Konoha isn’t safe for you right now. There’s no guarantee that Kabuto was his only spy.”

Sasuke considered the information Anko had just told her. “So, what will I be doing in Suna during this time?”

Anko shrugged. “I’m not sure Sasuke. That’s what Lady Tsunade will be talking about with you at your briefing. I wanted to tell you about this first, just in case you took it poorly.”

“I understand. It’s not forever. We are closely allied with Suna so I will do my best to be an asset to them.” She said tersely, ignoring the anger building in her stomach. _And not fixate on the fact that I’m being pushed out of the village, Tsunade I bet you’re pleased about that._

Anko snorted. “That’s one way of looking at it.” She got up from the bench. “Go pack up, you’ll be summoned when Tsunade’s ready for you.” With that she stepped back into headquarters.

Sasuke sat on the bench for a few minutes longer, soaking up the cool spring air and feeling the sun on her face.

_In a few months Naruto will be back, I will be back, and we can make a plan to find Itachi. Hold onto to that, Sasuke._

* * *

Sasuke took a quick detour before heading back to her apartment to pack. She knocked on the door and was disappointed that no one answered. _Well, he is busy these days._

She pulled a piece of paper out of her thigh pack and wrote a quick note.

_Kakashi, I stopped by but you weren’t home. I will be gone for a few months. -Sasuke._

She knew that if she didn’t write him a note and just disappeared, he would inevitably fear the worst. _Danzo still wears heavily on his mind._

She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. _Focus on the fact that people care about you, Sasuke._ It was a mantra she told to herself over the years when she was feeling alone or abandoned or, as in the case of Kakashi, smothered.

Her last detour before heading home was to the hospital.

She stopped at the front desk, ringing the tiny desk bell when the nurse on duty failed to notice her silent approach.

Her head shot up.

“Excuse me. Is Sakura around? I have a message for her.”

“Ah Sasuke, of course. Let me call her up.” The nurse buzzed the operating room. “She will be here shortly; she is just finishing up a report. Please take a seat.”

Sasuke obliged. She noted the vast improvement to the hospital that had occurred in the past few years since Tsunade took charge. Updated tiling, new paint, and cutting-edge technology were gifts of the Hokage to this hospital. _She kept her promise of revitalizing the medical corps here, that’s for sure._

She watched the families and shinobi come through and get directed to their respective wings, the busy hustle of the hospital kept Sasuke entertained while she waited for her friend.

Eventually Sakura walked out the swinging doors, her white doctor’s coat flying out behind her.

“Sasuke! What a pleasant surprise.” Sasuke sat up from her chair and gave a quick side hug to Sakura.

“Sakura, I just came by to say goodbye.” Shock flashed in Sakura’s eyes.

“Goodbye? Where are you going? Is it a mission?” She asked with surprise.

Sasuke smiled at her rapid fire off questions. “I don’t know all of the details, I will be hearing more about it from Lady Tsunade later today. I’ll be gone for a few months it sounds like.”

“A few months?! That’s crazy?” She glanced around and lowered her voice, “Can you tell me any of the details?”

Sasuke scoffed. “Of course not. But I have some exciting news. Naruto sent me a letter. He’s coming back.” She paused. “In a few months.”

Sakura’s eyes lit up. “That’s great news. It’s been so long.” She gazed off into the distance. “Things have changed since he’s been here last.”

“Hn.” _That’s certainly right._

The two girls were lost in their thoughts.

“Sakura, I have to go pack. I left a note for Kakashi, but if he doesn’t get it let him know I’m going to be gone.”

“Absolutely.”

“I’ll see you around Sakura.” She waved goodbye and finally left to go pack.

* * *

She finally received her summons from Lady Tsunade after her bags were packed and her fridge was cleaned out.

She raced across the rooftops to the Hokage’s tower and entered into her office. She grimaced before entering. _She’s always intense, way more than Anko ever is._

She bowed deeply to the woman sitting in her desk.

“Lady Hokage. I’ve heard a bit about what this summons is in regard to from Anko.”

Tsunade eyed the young Uchiha in front of her. She could never place it but something didn’t sit right with her about the girl.

She supposed it could be a result of her uncle’s rantings about the Uchiha clan, though she had served alongside enough of them during the war to have bonded with them somewhat. She supposed it could be the sense of lingering darkness within her, reminding her of Orochimaru before he completely lost his way. She supposed it might also be the subtle way she manipulated those around her, whether she knew it or not, she certainly had Sakura, Kakashi, and even Anko wrapped around her finger.

She decided it was mostly that last one. She cared deeply about Sakura and it angered her to see her have such a prominent weakness for Sasuke. _Sasuke, don’t you dare take my student down your dark path._

“Sasuke. Kabuto has been spotted in the village. We believe it’s only a matter of time before an abduction attempt is carried out. For your own protection we will be sending you to Suna. During that time, you will be a representative of our village. If they require your assistance on missions, you will partake in them so long as it does not directly go against this village. Is that understood?” Tsunade eyed her.

Sasuke nodded. “Yes Lady Tsunade.”

 _Kabuto is back? How did he get in without alerting the barrier guards to his presence? Is it easier than I thought?_ Her theory of an outsider assisting Itachi with his plans was seeming more and more likely.

“Good. You can leave immediately.”

* * *

Kakashi came back from his mission, sweaty and blood soaked, in the middle of the night.

Lady Tsunade had been relying on him more and more to take on solo missions of the utmost secrecy. He didn’t necessarily mind, but it was adding stress to his life. It was also taking him away from the village for weeks at a time.

He wouldn’t even mind that under normal circumstances.

These were not normal circumstances. He had dropped by Sasuke’s apartment a few months ago. They had been summoned for a mission that relied heavily on their combined use of the sharingan.

It was early morning then. The sun hadn’t yet risen. He looked up towards her balcony and froze. A familiar tuft of silver hair had caught his attention. _That son of a bitch._

He had raced up towards the man, but he sensed Kakashi coming and flickered away. Kakashi peered through the window. The blinds were shut except for a thin sliver that exposed a tiny glimmer of Sasuke’s leg poking out of the blanket. She was still sleeping soundly.

Kabuto’s return to the village meant that either Orochimaru has secret passageways into Konoha, or someone on the inside was helping him sneak in. Neither option was acceptable.

Kakashi was aware of Orochimaru’s attempt to attain immortality.

He had spoke privately to Lady Tsunade about this and she swore that she would take some action. The cynical part of him seemed to think her ‘action’ was just tossing him out of the village on longer and longer missions, preventing him from advocating for his student.

He shook his head. _No use dwelling on it._ He resolved to stop by her apartment after showering, just to make sure there were no unwelcome visitors peering from her balcony.

_You’re fixating Kakashi. Don’t spiral into paranoia._

However, his paranoia had kept him alive all these years. Maybe it would be best to listen to that part of his brain that always seemed to expect the worst.

He opened his door and noticed a small piece of paper that fluttered to the floor. He picked it up and read it, his brow furrowing. _A few months? Where is she going?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like writing about how the women in this story interact. So much of the show focused on the men and their quests for power. Sometimes a little fluff about the women can be enjoyable. If you aren't into talks/focus on seduction or how that might be a part for many of the kunoichi (because really, women for hire seems like it would inevitably lead to sex work in some capacity even in the Naruto world) I can assure you the next chapter dovetails closer to what occurs in Shippuden.   
> If Tsunade seems harsh, it is just because she cares for Sakura dearly.

Naruto looked around at the village from his vantage point atop the radio tower, his breath coming out ragged from running the last few kilometers of his return trip.

_I can’t believe how much has changed._

When he had left the village, they were still in the process of rebuilding from Orochimaru’s attack. Many neighborhoods had been comprised of makeshift cottages while the infrastructure was rebuilt.

The scene before him was uncannily familiar, yet different. The Hokage’s tower stood tall at the center of the village, the Great Stone Faces were looking over the village keeping watch same as ever, yet the bustle and movement in the streets was something new. He saw homes mixed with businesses mixed with parks. The river that ran through the village was exploding with movement of families and lovers strolling through the trails. Metal radio and t.v. towers were situated throughout the village and phone towers were being constructed on the outskirts of the village.

He took a calming breath in, ignoring the excitement mixed with anxiety building in his gut.

He was back and he was stronger than ever.

He had run far ahead of Jiraiya, his excitement and energy propelling him forward faster than his sensei cared to keep up with. Naruto resolved to reunite Team 7 and slip back into their routine.

He was excited to see Sakura, who had excelled in her medical training according to her letters.

He was excited to see Kakashi-sensei who, if the rumors of the drunken loose-lipped Pervy Sage were true, was on track to be the sixth Hokage.

He was most of all, not that he would admit it, excited to see Sasuke who had kept in constant contact with him via letters for the last two and a half years.

He ignored the little flip his stomach did when he thought about Sasuke and jumped down from the tower.

He had grown strong during his training, all in an effort to become Hokage- _and help Sasuke take down Itach_ his mind supplied- and he was determined to show his teammates and the village just how far he had come.

Naruto raced off to the Hokage’s tower, a smirk planted firmly on his face.

_Now it’s my time to shine._

* * *

Sasuke extended her three-day trip to Suna to four.

She knew that temporarily leaving the village was for her own safety, but she also knew it was Tsunade’s way of getting her out of her hair.

She wasn’t stupid. The Hokage didn’t like her, for whatever reason Sasuke didn’t know. She suspected that Tsunade was not fond of her close relationship with Sakura, who despite her growth and increase in self-confidence in recent years, was still heavily influenced by Sasuke.

Sasuke also knew from her mission history that Tsunade could sense a hint of darkness in her no matter how hard she tried to hide it. 

She also knew that the Hokage certainly was taking advantage of this situation to send her far away for a long time.

So, Sasuke was taking advantage of this bit of independence to spend her time freely. She made sure to stop along the way and marvel at the roadside attractions and street performers.

She would stop for tea and crackers and made a mental list of the best ramen restaurants and stands along the way.

 _It’s not like it’s just for Naruto, I like Ramen too._ She scoffed and shook her head ignoring the blush spreading across her face.

Sasuke eventually arrived at the outskirts of Suna. She glanced up at the towering earthen walls protecting the village, hiding scores of Shinobi within its caverns. A lone figure left the tunnel and walked out towards her. Sasuke strolled forward to meet it.

“Temari. It's been a while.” Sasuke looked the woman up and down. She hadn’t changed much in the 2 and a half years since they had last seen each other. Her blonde hair was still chunked into four funky buns but her purple outfit had been replaced with a long black dress with slits.

“Sasuke, looking good. You’re a little less knobby these days.” Temari teased her looking her up and down. She noted that the girl hadn’t changed much either, save for growing a few centimeters and finally getting a chest.

“Follow me. I can show you to your housing unit. It’s just a rental but it’s pretty nice. You’ll have your own room and bathroom, but a shared living space and kitchen.” They bounded across the Sand, dust flying up from their feet. “There aren’t too many other people there right now though so it shouldn’t be too bad.” Temari said as she led Sasuke out of the desert and into the village, through the streets.

She pointed out various shops and restaurants that she recommended Sasuke try out before leaving the village.

Civilians and shinobi alike stopped and bowed as Temari passed. Children shyly bowed and waved and chirped out a friendly “Hello Ms. Temari.”

Sasuke stated plainly “You’re pretty important here.”

Temari snorted. “Our Kazekage are appointed by bloodline, not decided by village elders like your Hokage are. So, if something were to happen to Gaara and Kankuro I would take over.” A small girl ran up to Temari and handed her a thorny flower. Temari gently picked it up thanked the child. “I’m important by association. Now, if I could get Gaara to actually listen to my advice that would be another story.” She said with an exasperated sigh.

They moved in silence the rest of their walk until they arrived at Sasuke’s new home.

Three levels of housing units were stacked on top of each other encircling a small pond with greenery implanted around it.

“Here you are. Like I said, not too many other people are here right now. It’s reserved for visiting political dignitaries and guests of the Kazekage. If you need anything, let me know. Get settled in and enjoy the sights around town tonight. You have a meeting tomorrow at 10 a.m. with the Kazekage to go over your mission. Don’t be late.” Temari took her farewell and jumped over the rooftops. Sasuke saw her form move in a quick blur as she made her way back to the center of the village.

Sasuke couldn’t help but be surprised, she hadn’t expected to undertake a mission so early upon her arrival. _I suppose they didn’t just accept me here out of the goodness of their hearts._ She thought mirthlessly.

She found her unit number, _1a,_ and let herself in. The room was small. The bed was made and pushed against one side of the wall. An oil painting of a cactus in bloom was hanging above the headboard.

A thin door led to the bathroom which was covered in beige and navy decorative tiles.

She dropped her pack on the bed and took a shower. _This place certainly is dusty, that’ll take some getting used to._ She sighed and tilted her head back, letting the water run down her face.

* * *

The next morning Sasuke woke up, put on her clothes, and tightly tied her headband around her forehead.

Even if she was in Suna, she would make sure she proudly represented her clan and Konoha, one of the last remaining contributions of the once mighty Uchiha.

She strolled the streets and committed to memory the roads and their connecting alleyways. It was a kunoichi’s duty to always be prepared.

At five minutes before 10 a.m. she arrived at the Kazekage’s tower.

She was led into the meeting room and bowed to Gaara before listening to his serious intonation as he explained, "There's a human trafficking ring taking root in one of the smaller tourism towns in the southwest corner of the country. We'd like you to head there with Temari and a group of kunoichi to investigate who is heading the organization and eliminate them. The secondary purpose will be to recapture the women there and deliver them to an advocacy group in the southeast that specializes in victim services. It is estimated to take at least a month but the quicker the better. Do you have any questions about your role."  
  
Sasuke blinked. That was a lot of information to take in so suddenly and at one time. “You want us to surveil the organization and remove the heads of the organization by taking them to jail?” She explained back to him, feeling like she had missed something.

Gaara paused briefly. “Our jails are not made to hold Shinobi and the trials associated with convicting these men would be costly and frankly a waste of our taxpayers’ money when we already are certain of their guilt. We take crimes like this very seriously.” He made quick eye contact and then looked away.

“Surveillance is only one part of the equation. I had hoped that Lady Hokage had already informed you of our situation, but I see that is not the case.”

Sasuke felt her curiosity grow, also apprehensive at where she thought he was headed.

“One of the reasons that we took you in was because we needed an unfamiliar chakra signature and a pretty face attached to it to infiltrate their organization. Our kunoichi run the risk of being recognized, even with a physical disguise or a prolonged henge. We are certain that there are some disgruntled members of our own shinobi force who have resorted to this work."

Sasuke was getting a bad feeling. “So what exactly _do_ you want from me.” She felt a momentary flash of anger, _“_ I am a minor might I remind you, therefore unauthorized to engage in sexual undertakings.”

Gaara raised his hands. “We would not expect you to take it that far.” He stared intently at her, “We would like you to gain access to the organization through the youngest son of the accountant. It seems he has a mind for the organizations inner workings and is being groomed to take over some responsibilities. Once he is compromised by you, this team will then execute a plan to dispose of these illegal manors that house the women.”  
  
"Hn. I was not informed of this.” She held the venom back in her voice. _I should have paid more attention to Anko when she tried telling me about **these** types of missions. _Her heart beat quicker in her chest.

Gaara could hear her venomous intent leaking through her clenched jaw. _Just like the snakes Tsunade tells me she summons._

“I will have Temari talk to you more about the intricate details of this mission. Please understand, I hate to put a guest in such an uncomfortable position. Especially a friend of Naruto’s, but this work is vitally important. We can’t just leave these women behind and unless we dismantle the organization they will rebuild and reestablish in another part of the county or in another country less equipped to handle them properly.” Gaara adjusted the strap on his gourd.

Sasuke clenched her fists. “I understand. I would not leave these women to be victimized just to preserve my own comfort.” She bowed deeply. _A Kunoichi is one who endures._ She was grateful, in a twisted way, that her family was dead and not around to bear witness to one of the more undesirable realities of being a kunoichi.

He dismissed her.

* * *

  
Temari came to her temporary housing unit two hours later.  
  
Sasuke was leaning over the railing of the veranda overlooking the artificial pond in the small green oasis.  
  
"Hey.” She stood with her hand on her hip and leaned against her doorframe of the sliding screen door. “I heard you threw a little hissy fit at your meeting this morning.”  
  
Sasuke scowled. "I did no such thing.” She threw a pebble into the pond, watching it plop down to the murky bottom. “I dislike seducing some human trafficker."   
  
Temari laughed. "I'm just kidding. You should really think about lightening up sometime.” She crossed her arms. “Of all the seduction related missions out there, you should recognize that one _not_ involving sex is really a rare thing. It may not seem like it but we are looking out for you.”

She shifted from her position by the door and came to stand next to Sasuke on the veranda.

Sasuke did not turn her head to look at her, only letting her frown deepen. Her traditional upbringing and position as child of a clan head told her that was only a _slight_ difference.  
  
"I can teach you how to be an effective honeypot, if you're concerned about your social skills." Temari purred at her.  
  
Sasuke blushed. That was one of her concerns. She wondered how Temari sought out her feelings so quickly and concisely.

She had briefly had a crush on Neji, admiring his long flowing hair and strong mental fortitude, but that fizzled out quickly when she realized her cold and awkward interactions with him only made him raise his eyebrows questioningly at her.

Temari laughed. “Look at that blush! As your senior in life, I know a thing or two. Don’t worry kid, I'll guide you effectively." She punched Sasuke's arm jokingly. "Besides, you're cute so it won't be too hard to trick a man into liking you."  
  
Sasuke snorted and quickly covered her mouth. _I see why Shikamaru has a hard time keeping up with her._  
  
Temari laughed heartily at her. "There she goes. See? It’s not so serious. We'll get through it.” She waved her hand dismissively at her. “I can equip you with a number of techniques to get your information." She grinned mischievously at Sasuke. _She is a cute one. There’s no need to worry at all._  
  
Sasuke smiled. "Thanks, Temari.” She clenched hands tightly. “It’s not like flirting for information is any worse than killing." She sobered up.   
  
Temari shrugged. "Yeah, but it was nice seeing you get so worked up about it just to come to this conclusion." She grinned wickedly.  
  
Sasuke side eyed her. "Well I'm glad that my distress could be of service."  
  
Temari laughed boisterously. "You’re so bleak Sasuke, lighten up sometime yeah?"  
  
"Hn."

* * *

  
They departed on their mission two days later. Sasuke was feeling better than she was the previous day. It was a shock; she hadn't intended to be thrown into something like this but Temari had assured her it wouldn't be quite as intense as she was imagining.  
  
She glanced at her companions from Suna.

Two girls, 3 and 4 years older than her respectively would be joining them.

The first girl, Misa, was a red-haired shy girl, tall and lanky. Hana was short and feisty and had a wild mop of brunette hair flying about her.

They would be her back up, the ones she needed to call on in an emergency.

Sasuke was apprehensive, it was hard to trust foreign shinobi. She was only starting to feel as though she could trust Temari.

The tourist town was only four hours away. They arrived and checked into their hotel room under the guise of four friends on vacation.

Temari sat her down on the bed and crouched in front of her. “Okay, listen up. You’re a fast learner so I expect not to have to repeat this. There are three main points in seduction. Gain your target’s interest, make contact, and flirt.” Sasuke nodded. _So far, easy enough to understand._

“In order to gain interest, it’s all about attitude and having a smoking body. Focus on the eye contact and body language. Make contact, that means focus on touching. Nothing lewd, just a touch on the arm, the back, the neck, decide what works best in the moment. Finally flirt. If you need to set the scene, create an illusion of interest in the target.”

Sasuke nodded again. _Okay, this is a little more overwhelming._

Sasuke really was only ever used to people approaching her on their own. Pursuing someone was an alien concept. She realized this and couldn’t help but feel it made her conceited.

“Spend the next few days gathering intel on your target.” Temari continued. “We three will be snooping around town to find the best place and time to make our move. Do you understand your objective?” Temari asked.

“Yes.” She stared back at Temari meeting her eyes. Letting her see her confidence. Sasuke would not let this be an obstacle for her.

After years of hearing Anko complain drunkenly after their missions, she knew seduction was something unavoidable for kunoichi. She just hadn’t expected it to be a focus for her so early.

“Good.” Temari rustled around in her shirt pocket and continued. “Here’s a picture of your target. His father Ami is the accountant of this organization.” She showed a picture of a young boy with tanned skin and short spiky black hair.

“Good luck.” Temari sent her away.

* * *

Sasuke’s task in the next few days was to pour through fashion magazines and stealthily move around town, following this young man to his favorite spots. She catalogued the girls he talked to and the jokes he made.

She was starting to notice a pattern. Short hair, breasts on display, long legs, and an unconscious bias towards the color green.

Sasuke was also taking this time to learn more about Temari and her Suna teammates. They laughed freely and warmly but could switch to steel in seconds. Sasuke saw the strong bonds the people had here. _They feel so intensely._

Sasuke couldn’t help but relate to that.

“Sasuke. Come join us.” Temari loudly called her over to the table one night.

“What is that?” Sasuke pointed at a bottle on the tabletop, half empty.

Her companions smirked. “This is Arak. Try some, you’ll like it.”

Sasuke was suspicious of their smirks and judging from the strong smell pouring over them, this drink would knock her on her ass.

She had drank before, Ino was particularly fond of imbibing when the girls trio got together. Ino was one to handle it like a champ. Even Tsunade would be proud, had they not all been underage. Sakura would cluck like a mother hen but steal sips when she thought no one was looking. Sasuke had a tendency to overindulge. She always seemed to misjudge her tolerance and depending on the night even two drinks could send her into a stupor.

“I really must turn you down. I’m afraid I’m not a seasoned drinker.” Sasuke politely declined.

“Ahh come on, you can’t leave Suna without trying some! We aren’t going anywhere tonight. Just try one drink, it’ll be diluted with the ice.” Temari hummed at her, already feeling the effects of her drinking.

Sasuke thought about it for one moment longer. Against her better judgement, she agreed. “Okay, I’ll try it.”

Her companions cheered and brought out another glass. They poured in the drink over a handful of ice.

Sasuke watched as it turned a milky white color upon mixing with the ice melting in the warm heat of the evening.

 _I’m going to regret this in the morning._ She took a sip.

“Wow. That’s incredibly strong.” She choked back a cough, feeling her eyes start to water.

“It’ll clear out your sinuses that’s for sure.” Hana chuckled.

The girls continued their chatter, Sasuke sat around and listened to them talk about everything from politics, to fashion, to personal issues to their love lives.

She continued to sip on her drink. She did enjoy it, but she could feel it immediately move to her head.

Eventually they moved their party to the living room, the soft cushion of the couches called to their wobbling bodies. Sasuke sat in a chair apart from the three girls.

They turned on the TV, a muscular chestnut-haired man with glistening tan skin appeared shirtless on the screen.

All three of the Suna kunoichi screamed. “No way! It’s Eiji!” They pointed at the television set in amazement.

“Who’s that?” Sasuke asked, feeling a little lightheaded by this point.

“He used to be a chunin in Suna, he quit about two years ago. Temari dated him for a while.” Misa wagged her eyebrows at Temari, who just looked away and scoffed.

“Ehh. He was so hot. I can’t believe he quit the forces to be an actor of all things.” Hana rolled her eyes. Sasuke found herself agreeing with her, remembering the array of snappy attitudes Team 7 encountered during their guard mission in the Land of Snow.

_I just don’t understand why someone would want to be famous._

Temari threw back the rest of her drink. “He was an incredible lover. What a shame he’s letting that physique go to waste.” She eyed the screen, watching Eiji embrace a blushing woman by the seaside.

“Hn. It takes a lot of effort to become a shinobi and make it to chunin. What made him quit?” Sasuke asked.

Misa shrugged. “Who knows. He was always so absorbed in his appearance, and he was getting tired of the risks. It’s probably better that he got out, I don’t think he would have survived much longer. I can’t blame him for that.”

“Well. I guess it’s good someone like that got out then.” Sasuke eyed him. “Temari, you had good taste.” She slurred out at her.

Temari ran her hands through her hair. “It was a long time ago.” Sasuke sensed her reluctance to talk about him more and so changed the subject.

“Your country is beautiful. I can’t believe how wonderful the desert sky looks in the early morning, like a painting created by the gods.” She meant it; it was entirely different from Konoha.

“Ooh, so poetic.” Temari teased. “I’m glad you like it. You’re a very capable kunoichi with incredible dojutsu. Feel free to stay here forever if you like. Although I’m sure your boyfriends would never let you leave Konoha.” Temari teased.

Sasuke rolled her eyes.

As a sober woman she never would have rose to the bait but in her state she felt feisty. “My boyfriends? Please tell me, who are you referencing?”

Temari laughed, “Oh we got a rise out of her! I just mean every single man that lays his eyes on you. Remember the chunin exams that we held jointly? Those Konoha genin were tripping over themselves to impress you. Even the cloud genin were obsessed. Those cheekbones of yours and those lips are just,” Temari gave a chef’s kiss, “perfection. I have to say even I’m a little obsessed.” Temari purred and gazed intently at her.

Sasuke blushed. “You’re imagining things. People don’t find me that attractive.”

Misa and Hana laughed. “Oh so she’s oblivious. Are we sure she can handle this mission?” Hana quipped.

“You’re really out of touch with your sensuality, aren’t you? Have you even kissed someone?” Misa taunted.

“Of course! I kissed Naruto once!” Sasuke exclaimed before she was able to stop herself.

“Ooh, that ball of energy? He’s got such a loud personality I never would have expected that from you. And your teammate no less.” Temari shouted, her voice control wavering with her alcohol consumption.

“It was an accident though. I never kissed anyone else.” She felt a blush tint her cheeks.

_Don’t let them make you feel bad Sasuke._

Temari sauntered over to her and plopped down beside her on the recliner that Sasuke was sitting in. She grabbed Sasuke by the face and forcefully gave her a kiss, biting down on her bottom lip. Sasuke felt her body jolt but didn’t pull away.

Temari pulled back and stared in her eyes. “There, now you’ve kissed someone besides Naruto.” She winked and walked back over to the couch.

Sasuke was certain that if she was more sober she would have chewed Temari out, as it was she just sat back, her heart pounding.

She downed the rest of her drink.

_These Suna kunoichi really have no shame._

She smiled softly to herself. _Ino’s going to lose her mind when I tell her._

* * *

Hana called her into the living area the next night. “There’s a manor in the valley. Tonight there will be a party with members of the trafficking ring. Your target will be there. Make your move.”

Sasuke nodded. It was time.

She bought an eye shadow palette that emphasized different shades of green. She went to the store and bought a short black dress that showed off her cleavage. Finally, she bought a pair of strappy high heels that were the same green as her eye shadow.

She scoured through photos of models before deciding on a funky hairstyle with two bouncing space buns on top of her head.

She put her outfit together. She checked herself out in the mirror, pleased with her ensemble. _I look good._

She was nervous. Stalking her target was nothing new to her, what would come _after_ extracting their intel was nothing new to her. It was the step in the middle that was making her nervous. She couldn’t think of that now.

She approached the manor with apprehension. She pushed it out of her mind.

She scanned the room and noticed a young boy nervously looking around the room, he was hanging next to some older men laughing and joking with the women.

Sasuke had found her target, silently thankful for his visible nervousness. She moved around the edge of the room, making sure to walk into his line of sight. His eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw her. She held back a smirk. _Gain his interest._

She went to sit on a velvety red couch. She made eye contact and tilted her head back, willing him over. He left his companions and came over. “May I sit down here?” He asked her. Sasuke shrugged. “I suppose so, can you guarantee to make it worth my while?”

“I can try.” He grinned and sat down next to her. Sasuke crossed her legs and bent towards him, laying her hand on his thigh. _Make contact._

“Why are you all alone over there? Did nobody catch your attention?” She gazed at him.

“Truth be told they’re not my type.” He blushed. “You are though.” Sasuke’s stomach flipped inside her.

“Well lucky for you, I’ve arrived just in time.” She gave him a coy smile. _Flirt._

Sasuke turned on the charm. She cursed herself, wishing that she had paid more attention when Ino and Sakura were squealing over their magazines offering tips and tricks on getting a man.

Some of her advances fell flat, but she persevered.

She made sure to squeeze his arm occasionally and laugh when he told his jokes. He appeared to be smitten.

_Can it really be this easy?_

“Is there someplace we can talk? Alone?”

His eyes widened. “Sure. There’s a lounging space upstairs.”

She followed him up the staircase and down the hall. He opened up the door and ushered her in. Sasuke tentatively sensed the space. _There doesn’t appear to be any other presence here._

He was chatting away behind her and Sasuke sat down on a nearby chair. He came and sat down on the armrest.

“This is a nice place. Do you come here often?” Sasuke tilted her head up at him.

“Yeah. My dad works here so I come by every now and then when he’s throwing parties.” He scratched the back of his head and glanced at the door.

“Oh. What does your dad do?”

“He’s an accountant. It’s pretty boring.”

Sasuke felt her mouth dry up and her mind go blank. _How is there any way I can ask about his father’s associates normally?_

She sent one last probing sense around the room. They were still alone.

She decided to improvise.

Sasuke reached up to him and grabbed his cheeks, staring straight into his eyes. She activated her sharingan and trapped him in a mild genjutsu, putting him completely into a calm, peaceful state.

“How are you feeling?” She asked.

“Mmmm. I feel great. I’m so light.” He grinned at her with a big dopey grin.

_This is way easier._

“Your dad is the accountant. Do you know many of the other leaders here?”

He smiled. “Of course. I know Mr. Danuja, and Mr. Fumihiro, and Mr. Genkei.”

Sasuke smiled back at him. “And who are they?”

“People that work with my dad.”

Sasuke felt her eye twitch.

“What are their roles in the organization specifically.”

“Mr. Danuja handles finding spaces for the girls and pays off the right people, Mr. Fumihiro handles finding the girls, and Mr. Genkei coordinates all of the other logistics, I don’t actually know what’s all involved.” He shrugged his shoulders.

Sasuke thought for a second and went off script. “How do you know all of this?”

“I’m going to take over some of the bookkeeping for my dad.”

Sasuke nodded to herself. _He’s deep in it then._ She decided that made it easier to drain him for information.

“Where are they all now?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t get told a lot.” He blinked. “Oh. Mr. Fumihiro is going to be here tomorrow. At this manor. He arrives in the morning.”

“Do you know anything else about them?” Sasuke asked him intently.

“No.” His eyes wandered around the room. “It’s so nice in here.” He signed contentedly.

“What about the girls? Where are they kept?”

“The girls are all kept in an underground bunker beneath the manor. We have an earth-style shinobi that carves out a cave beneath these locations.”

“How many shinobi are here?”

“Hmm? I’m tired.” He closed his eyes and turned away from her.

“Hey, answer me. How many shinobi are there?” She patted his cheeks lightly.

“Hngh. Let me sleep.” He drawled.

Sasuke figured that was enough for now.

“You’ve done great. You’re going to go to sleep now. When you wake up you’ll remember that we sat down to have a cup of tea, your head started to hurt and so you dismissed me so that you could take a nap.” Sasuke told him, influencing his memory, and implanting that recollection into his mind in his vulnerable state.

She folded his hands and gently placed them on his lap and put a decorative pillow under his head. She quickly made two cups of tea, pouring them out so they were half empty, adding detail to her lie.

Then she quietly slipped out the window and jumped down to the ground, making her way back to their setup.

* * *

“Temari. I found out three names of important people. One of them will be here tomorrow morning.”

Temari grinned at her. “That’s excellent, let’s wait for Hana and Misa to return before we make a plan.”

Sasuke changed out of her dress into her standard outfit and walked out to the living area.

Hana had returned and was microwaving a frozen dinner. “How’d it go newbie?”

“Hn. Really well. He was loose with his information. Not that he stood a chance with my sharingan-induced genjutsu, he was very perceptive to my influence.”

Hana laughed. “Love to hear it.”

Misa returned an hour later, looking defeated. “I didn’t find anything out. Sorry girls.”

Temari sauntered out of her room a few minutes later and joined them. “Alright everyone, debrief us on your information. Sasuke you go first.”

“I got three names. Fumihiro finds the victims, Danuja secures the location and bribes the officials, and Genkei is an unknown higher up. Fumihiro will be here tomorrow morning. The girls are all underneath these manors. They have at least one earth-style shinobi on duty.”

“Excellent. Hana?”

“There are at least six shinobi of varying abilities on guard. Four of them are former Suna shinobi, the other two are mercenaries for hire.”

“Hm. That could be an issue.” Sasuke frowned at the news.

“Misa, what did you find out?” Temari asked her pointedly.

“Nothing. I apologize Temari.” Misa hung her head.

Temari was quiet for a while, thinking hard. “Okay, we aren’t so bad off.”

“We shouldn’t make a move until this Fumihiro arrives. Once he is here, we capture him and kill his men. Once he gives the locations of the other hideouts and girls, we kill him too. I’m going to make the assumption that the accountant Ami will be meeting with him when he arrives.” She rubbed her temples.

“No. I can’t assume that. Hana. Go to the accountant’s house and see if he keeps a date book. Report back if he has an appointment or anything suspicious in that book.”

Hana nodded and flickered away.

Sasuke spoke up. “The six shinobi could be troublesome. Although I didn’t sense any particularly strong chakra tonight. I don’t think any of their civilian bodyguards will be a concern.”

Temari nodded. “Okay. We will wait for Hana and make a plan. Eat if haven’t yet and take a nap we’ll be up late tonight.”

Sasuke rubbed her eyes and figured a nap was in order.

* * *

Hana returned close to midnight. They all gathered around her. “He’ll be there. 9a.m. they have a meeting.”

Temari sat down on the edge of their couch. “Okay. Sasuke you take lead at the front, use your sharingan to inform us of any incoming jutsu or hidden traps that might be of concern.”

Sasuke nodded.

“Hana and Misa will take the middle; I’ll take the back. The henchmen get killed. Ami gets killed, Fumihiro gets captured, interrogated, then killed.”

Sasuke frowned at her words. “Temari. That means everyone gets killed. Why not bring them to jail?” She knew what Gaara had told her earlier, but deep down in her heart she hated killing. This was one last chance to try and save their lives, even if they didn’t necessarily have her sympathy.

Temari scowled. “Sasuke, this is an internal matter. We have approval from the Kazekage to kill whomever we believe to be involved in this matter. If you have an issue with that, get over it. This is what we were dispatched to do.”

Sasuke shut her mouth, biting back her snappy remark. _Remember, you’re a guest here._

The plan was understood.

The four-woman team put on the loose-fitting black dresses common to women in that region and strapped their weapons tight against their thighs.

Sasuke ignored the anger boiling in her stomach and chose instead to focus on stringing wire through her shuriken.

She never liked killing, but it was too late to replace her in this squad. She bit her tongue and emptied her mind. _Focus on the mission._

They set out at 8:30, slowly meandering their way to the manor. They remained on high alert for any impending counterattacks. They watched as a short man in a white suit approached the manor, surrounded by bodyguards. Sasuke activated her sharingan and read the doorman’s lips _Hello, Mr. Fumihiro._

She nodded to her teammates. They watched him enter and waited for another man to arrive. This time a lanky man with long greasy hair strolled into the manor with a small collection of thugs and one familiar looking 17-year-old boy. Sasuke felt a small tinge of pity for him. She mouthed _. That’s Ami._

The women descended on the manor in a flash, taking out every non shinobi with ease.

Sasuke was glad she was not the one to kill her companion from the night before although it didn’t stop her stomach from squirming as she saw him drop dead to the floor in a heap. Soon it was just six shinobi and the two important men they were guarding left.

Temari swung her fan at them, hiding kunai in the breeze that accelerated wickedly fast at them, piercing one shinobi in the throat.

_Five to go._

Misa turned the earth beneath their feet to quicksand, rapidly swallowing one beneath the earth and trapping him there.

_Four to go._

Hana shot out a blast of air at the lone woman shinobi decapitating her.

_Three to go._

Sasuke grabbed her shuriken and swung them out in an arch towards the remaining shinobi, the wire slicing their bodies.

_Two to go._

_One to go._

Ami and Fumihiro were standing stunned.

_Just two whimpering men left._

Temari walked up to Ami and sliced his throat.

“You.” She pointed at Fumihiro. If you want to live tell us where Genkei and Danjuro are, as well as the location of the other manors.”

He spilled everything. Temari still sliced his throat at the end of it.

Hana gathered up the woman and left to bring them to the advocacy group.

Misa went to the second location in town, easily slaying the guards and releasing the women.

Temari wrote to Gaara, informing him of the location of the other manors and sent it back on a ferret, her summoning animal.

Sasuke stared at the blood seeping towards her sandals.

* * *

Gaara had been feeling guilty about sending Sasuke on this mission. He wondered in passing why Tsunade hadn’t told her about her purpose in coming here.

He sent his sand eye out to find Sasuke. Thankfully she was nearby, sipping on a glass of ayran and eating plain crackers at a shop down the street while watching the sun go down.  
  
He floated down to talk with her.  
  
"I'm pleased to see that you're taking advantage of our local delicacies. Although I must admit, this particular drink is especially delicious during the heat of the day."  
  
Sasuke looked up at him with tired eyes. "It is still very hot to me right now and this is hitting the spot." As if to emphasize her point a bead of sweat dripped down to her eyebrow from her hairline.  
  
Gaara chuckled. "Your outfit is too form fitting. Loose and baggy is the way to go, it allows for more air circulation. I can point you in the direction of some good shops that are accommodating to foreigners."  
  
Sasuke stopped herself from rolling her eyes.

"I like my outfit thank you very much." She glanced around her noticing the long and loose dresses the women seemed to be fond of. "But I suppose I could fit in."

Gaara nodded.  
  
"Thank you for your help with this recent mission. I know it's a lot to ask of anyone. Particularly someone who is in a situation like you, sent here for protection. It can be tricky to feel comfortable enough to say no. I can assure you I won't ask you to do anything like that in the future. A jonin with exceptional doujustu skills like you can be utilized in many other ways." He rubbed the back of his head and smiled warmly.  
  
Sasuke smiled. “It wasn’t so bad. I have a new skillset thanks to your sister.” She chuckled and glanced around at the people quietly making their way down the street. “I have to say you certainly are making a lot of nice changes around here. It’s hard to imagine that you’re the same person who was screaming for my blood at the chunin exams.”

Gaara grimaced. “I’m sorry for that. I was in a bad place for years.”

Sasuke shrugged. “I don’t want you to feel badly about it. We’ve all changed.”

They stared up at the stars.

“Temari will be heading to Konoha tomorrow. Is there anything you would like her to bring with her or bring back?” He asked after a moment of pause.

Sasuke remained silent. “No.” She answered after a while.

She excused herself and walked back to her housing. She thought about Naruto.

_Are you back yet?_

She felt a wave of loneliness pass through her. She appreciated that her safety was being prioritized but she missed her support system.

Her struggles with depression were few and far between these days but not gone entirely.

She sighed deeply and turned off the lights in her room. 

She stared at the ceiling and waited for sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 will reunite in the next chapter! Thank you for you support.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke's time in Suna is nearing its end but before she goes something is going to happen to rile the nation and its allies up.

Sasuke was walking around the village at night.

She was suffering from a particularly bad bout of insomnia. That was becoming a more and more common occurrence these days. She had been in Suna for more than 2 months already. Tomorrow would be the start of July, her birthday month.

Temari had left for Konoha 2 weeks ago. With any luck she would be returning shortly, which was a small comfort. Temari was her only acquaintance in this place. Although even their friendship was based on proximity to each other rather than any meaningful connection.

She reminded her of Ino in some ways. Although Temari was certainly more brutal in battle and that carried over into her personality.

Sasuke couldn’t help but chuckle softly at the memory of Temari throwing her glass across the room when she had lost a board game, much to Misa’s horror.

Sasuke missed Sakura, who despite being a little rowdy, was still her friend. She missed Ino, who was a little bit boy obsessed but fiercely protective. She missed her senseis, Kakashi and Anko who were eccentric in their own ways.

Sasuke looked up at the sky, noticing a lone desert falcon circling in the air against the light of the moon. Everything about this land was odd to her.

_Even the birds here are weird and fly about at night._

She stopped in her tracks. _Why is that bird barreling down towards the Kazekage’s tower?_

She watched in horror as the bird grew closer and closer, growing larger as it came near.

She was able to see that it was not just a desert falcon but a large white unnatural bird. Riding on its back was a figure with long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a black robe with red clouds.

_Akatsuki? Is Itachi coming here, now?_

She cursed and raced towards the tower, breathing a sigh of relief as Gaara’s sand stopped an explosion from rocking the tower and the building below it.

An explosion off to her right quickly removed any sense of relief she felt. She heard the cry of civilians as their houses crumbled away.

A swarm of sand shinobi descended in her area, rescuing civilians trapped beneath rubble and removing the injured to safety.

Sasuke continued forward. _I will not let this person escape; he could lead me to Itachi. He might even know who helped in his massacre._

Gaara created a board of sand and hovered up into the air to meet the figure on the bird.

Sasuke reached the base of the Kazekage’s tower and raced up the side. _These sand shinobi may be forced by protocol to rescue civilians before coming to Gaara’s aid but I am bound by no such rules._

Sasuke was close enough to see the assailants face. The man, Deidara, looked over at her.

“Great, just what I need, another plebian to mess up my artistic expression.” He sighed dramatically and held his arms straight out, the mouths on his hands chewing rapidly, white froth slipping out the sides as spit and clay mashed together.

Sasuke couldn’t hide her disgust at the site. “Gaara!” _Shit, I forgot to use his title. He can yell at me later._

He looked at her and frowned. “Sasuke, I don’t approve of you being here while my citizens remain in the danger zone.” He paused and sent a quick glance back at his opponent. “But as long as you’re here I will use your assistance.”

He sent a second board of sand over to her. She jumped from the tower to the sand and floated near him.

“Jump wherever you need to, I will make sure my sand is there to catch you.”

Sasuke nodded and jumped off the edge without looking down. For a brief moment her heart fell straight into her stomach as her foot pushed down on air, no solid surface remained to catch her. Yet Gaara’s sand did not abandon her and a thin board appeared right where her foot fell. She raced toward the man on the bird and activated her sharingan.

“Your eyes, they’re just like Itachi’s!” As surprised as the man who exclaimed this felt, Sasuke too was surprised by his sudden exclamation of his name. Even after all these years, even after becoming comfortable saying his name in her mind, to hear it out loud made her jump in shock.

Her surprise was quickly replaced by anger. “What do you know of him?” She jumped from her sand step and landed on his clay bird.

He smirked, “Enough to know that looking into your eyes will be my downfall.” He jumped off his bird, landing on a nearby rooftop. With a few quick hand signs, he caused an explosion. His giant white bird now a bright sun in the night sky.

Sasuke, thankfully, abandoned his bird as quickly as he had, fearing this outcome.

Gaara extended a giant wave of sand over the village, shielding it from the brunt of the explosion. A minor shockwave reverberated through the streets.

She jumped from the side of the building she stuck to and landed on the rooftop near the Akatsuki man.

She quickly assessed the situation. He was an explosives user, likely his jutsu was an earth style, and he was a long-range fighter.

To stop this now she would have to get in close and use her lighting style. Sasuke withdrew shuriken from her pouch, funneling chakra into them. She threw them at him. Two of them he dodged with ease but the third she arched back swinging around his left side and hitting him on his back right shoulder. His arm jolted with a shock of electricity.

“Shit!” he yelled out, his arm a bit charred and temporarily useless to perform an earth style jutsu. He jumped back, putting distance between him and Sasuke. His weakness was close combat, he had to retreat.

He took a few steps backwards and bumped into a wall of sand. “There’s nowhere for you to go.” Gaara plainly stated.

Deidara furrowed his brow. “Well, I guess you’re right. I give up.” He raised his hands in defeat and scowled. There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice that neither Gaara nor Sasuke liked.

Gaara took a step towards him, calling back his sand to his gourd when an explosion rocked him. The sand had been laced with explosives in the brief moment Deidara’s working arm had touched it.

A gasp of surprise and outrage from the civilians and shinobi below rang out.

Sasuke scowled and raced towards Deidara. He picked up Gaara’s stunned body and turned to leave the village.

Sasuke formed her Chidori, elongating it like a sword and swung at his left arm. _I can’t let him touch me, all it takes is a few seconds to implant explosives on a person. If I avoid his left side, his right is still deactivated._

Her razor-sharp lightning blade sliced through his skin, immediately cauterizing his wound as smoke flitted away from his shoulder. His arm fell to the ground in an unceremonious thump.

Deidara screamed. “Fuck! You bitch! You’re a fucking prick just like your brother!” He squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He dropped Gaara to the ground. _Maybe I shouldn’t have told Sasori I could do this alone._

Kankuro came running up.

“You have nowhere to go. Give up now.” Sasuke pointed her Chidori sword at him again. _I can go for the right arm now, he is probably gaining back the use of his earth style jutsu capabilities. It’s time to end this._

Behind her she her the clang of metal. Kankuro’s puppet arm grazed the back of her head, slicing off a few hairs. _What’s his problem?_

“Ahh. My man Sasori! It’s about time.”

Sasuke turned around, seeing the arm of Crow barely holding back a dripping spike mere centimeters from the base of her neck.

_I didn’t sense it coming at me at all!_

“You took too long and made a huge racket. If we don’t leave now, we will keep the others waiting.” The newcomer deadpanned, eyeing the scene before him.

Deidara scowled. “I was doing fine, just thrown off a little bit.”

Sasori didn’t respond, he pulled his spike back from its striking position near Sasuke and poised it like a scorpion’s tail. He swung at Gaara, Kankuro stopped him again.

The two puppet masters engaged in battle. Sasuke turned back to Deidara. “If you think we will let you leave here after attacking the Kazekage and the village you are mistaken.” She narrowed her eyes and removed three senbon from her pouch.

She was by no means an expert with these tools, but she had learned a few tricks from Anko. Her aim, impeccable even without her sharingan, was laser focused with her sharingan. She identified the three targets on her opponent’s body. In one fluid motion she would be able to paralyze him and stop his attack on the village.

Deidara could see the determination in her eyes and quickly formulated a plan, based off of Gaara’s quip to Sasuke earlier. “Well, if you both are here, who is going to protect the defenseless civilians?”

Deidara’s lifeless arm exploded from its spot on the ground, sending rumbles across the rooftop as the structure poised to collapse.

Gaara’s eyes widened.

Rubble began to fall and the screams of civilians below rang out in terror. Sasuke and Kankuro both cursed.

Sasuke knew she had two options. Respect Gaara’s wishes, like he had told her in the beginning, to protect his citizens or let them perish and save the Kazekage. She scowled.

Sasuke jumped down, weaving through the falling rubble to grab kids by the armful and move them to safety.

Kankuro followed closely behind her, his puppets pulled back from Sasori and blocked falling chunks from squashing unsuspecting victims below.

The chunks of building fell to the earth and brought up a haze of dust and grime.

Sasuke rubbed the dust from her eyes and quickly jumped back up to see where the men had gone. She saw the two Akatsuki members running through the sand. Gaara’s body was knocked out and tied to the back of the puppet master. Sasuke wasn’t sure what had happened to him while they were distracted by the falling rubble, but he looked to be on death’s door, cracks spread out in webs across his sand armor. _Shit!_

She moved to follow after them. “Kankuro! Round up some men, we can track them they haven’t gotten too far yet.” She turned to look at her companion and found him scrunched on the ground, his mouth open in a silent scream and tears building up in the corners of his eyes. His sleeve was ripped in a straight thin line and she saw a red cut on his forearm that was bright red. _Poison?_

She cursed her luck. “Medic! Kankuro has been poisoned!” She looked around in vain, all of the shinobi were either watching their Kazekage be dragged away in shock or were continuing to evacuate and civilians.

She picked him up by the shoulders and raced through the streets, stopping outside of the hospital nearest to them. She alerted the nurses and gently dropped his body to the floor.

A giant bell tolled out, calling the shinobi to the Kazekage’s tower. Sasuke raced off to see what announcement was being made.

Baki, a shinobi Sasuke recognized from the chunin exams as Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro’s sensei addressed the crowd. “Yura has led an elite team of tracking shinobi to find Gaara and bring him back.” A sigh of relief made its way through the crowd.

“Everyone else is to continue clearing the streets and looking for survivors. A burn unit is being set up in the southwest quadrant, bring those injured from the blast there for treatment. All other injuries will be directed to the hospital.”

The shinobi got to work. Baki called Sasuke over. “I need you to send word to your Hokage. We are officially requesting back-up from Konoha.”

Sasuke nodded and raced off to the hawk tower. She composed a note in Konoha’s code. _Gaara has been kidnapped by the Akatsuki. Kankuro is poisoned. Suna is requesting you send Temari back and dispatch a team for aid during this difficult time. Sasuke._

She tied the message to the leg of the hawk and sent him off, watching desperately as he flew away.

_Gaara. Hold on, we’re coming for you._

* * *

Naruto felt like yelling.

He had been gone for nearly _three years_ training with Pervy Sage and when he finally returns, Granny Tsunade wants to saddle him with some dinky C-rank mission?

He sat down on the ground. Kakashi and Sakura looked at him with surprise. “I refuse! I’ll accept no less than B-rank. My skills are way beyond some lame security guard job.”

Sakura bent down at the waist. “Master! I am so sorry! Please let me handle him!” She smacked the back of Naruto’s head. _Idiot! I’m the one that will get in trouble if you mess around! You don’t know how angry she can be when she really gets mad!_

Tsunade looked as though she was going to stomp Naruto into the ground when an intel corpsman bust through the door. “Lady Hokage. I have an urgent message from our source in Suna.” He bowed deeply to her. “It may be best to reveal it in private My Lady.”

Tsunade thought for a moment. “No, they can stay. What news does Sasuke send?” All three shinobi before her looked up in surprise.

 _Suna? So that’s where she’s been this whole time._ Sakura nodded to herself. It made sense, given their close allyship to the Sand, that they would take in a visitor for an extended period of time.

Naruto jumped up from his sitting position. “Sasuke’s in Suna? What does she have to say? What’s going on? Tell us.” He bombarded the corpsman. Naruto had tried to hide the fact that he was deeply disappointed when he returned and Sasuke was nowhere to be found. According to Sakura she had been gone for months already, with an indefinite return date.

He had missed her these past years. Writing had always kept the two in touch with each other, but he missed their in-person interactions. He couldn’t help the small smile that spread across his face when he thought of his very first friend.

Kakashi stood waiting with apprehension. An intel corpsman busting into the middle of a mission briefing never brought good news.

The corpsman paused briefly. “The Akatsuki attacked Suna. Lord Kazekage has been kidnapped and Kankuro his brother has been poisoned. They are requesting back-up be sent immediately and that Temari returns at once.”

The atmosphere tensed. Tsunade narrowed her eyes.

“Team Kakashi. You will depart immediately for Suna. Find out what is going on and report back. From there follow the orders of Suna. Temari has already departed, find her on route and update her on the situation.”

She turned to face Naruto.

“Naruto. Be careful. The Akatsuki have targeted you in the past.” He nodded.

“I won’t lose my cool Granny Tsunade!” He remembered Jiraiya’s warning to him before he left the village a few hours earlier. _I can’t let my emotions get the best of me or else the nine tails will leak out._

* * *

Sasuke was assigned to detonate remaining bombs set around the village. She moved from quadrant to quadrant alongside a group of jonin and chunin.

The tracking team had yet to return. The first hours were of critical importance and for all they knew, the tracks of the Akatsuki were disappearing to the passage of time and sand and wind. It had been 14 hours since Gaara had been taken.

Sasuke figured that a team had already been dispatched from Konoha. She wondered who it would be. A small part of her hoped that it would be Sakura. _She is a talented kunoichi, it would make sense to send her especially considering the state of Kankuro._ An even smaller part of her hoped that Naruto would be joining her. _Now you’re just thinking nonsense._

“Heads up!” A woman yelled. Sasuke crouched down and covered her head.

At the end of the attack, the damage done to the village and the civilians was quite minimal. Two buildings were destroyed completely, one was partially destroyed, and 24 civilians were injured to varying degrees. So far no one had died.

Kankuro’s condition however, continued to deteriorate. The Suna medical shinobi had been hopeful in the first few hours that they were making headway.

After a brief improvement in his vitals, his health plummeted. It was whispered that he wouldn’t survive past three days.

The elder shinobi who remembered Sasori of the Red Sand were convinced that the puppeteer who attacked the village alongside Deidara was the very same rogue ninja.

A small convoy had gone to speak with two siblings who had experience dealing with his tactics, with any luck they would arrive shortly.

* * *

Team Kakashi jumped from tree to tree, focused on reaching their destination.

“Naruto. Slow down. We’re losing our formation.” Sakura breathed out, her chest rising up and down.

“I can’t! Gaara and Sasuke are counting on us being there!”

“I agree, but it doesn’t help if we get unhinged.”

They spotted a blonde figure moving casually along the trail below them.

“Temari!” Sakura called out and jumped down to greet her.

“Oh? What are you all doing out here?”

Kakashi decided to be the one to break the news. “Temari. We are headed to Suna.” He paused.

Temari interrupted before he could gather his thoughts. “So you’re finally taking Sasuke back? That’s a shame. She kept things lively that’s for sure. Her eyes aren’t too bad either.” She smirked. “You better be careful or we’ll send some strapping young Sand shinobi to steal her away.” Temari winked at them.

“I think there’s quite a few who have already caught her attention.” She slyly looked over at Naruto, trying to get a reaction out of him.

Naruto made no show of emotion. _We’re wasting time here! Let’s get a move on already!_

Sakura, in overly protective mother mode, bristled at her comment.

Kakashi continued.

“Temari. Unfortunately, this visit isn’t about Sasuke. It’s about your brothers.”

Temari listened to him as he relayed the latest news.

Her eyes widened in surprise. _Dammit! How could this happen? Were their jonin really so useless? And Kankuro? How could he be so careless!_

“It’s about two days from here. Let’s hurry.”

The foursome raced off, willing their bodies to move faster.

* * *

Sasuke was called into the hospital room housing Kankuro. She watched his chest rise and fall in shallow breaths. His skin was pale and sweat poured down him.

Baki turned to address her. “The Konoha shinobi should be arriving soon. I want us all to converge here. Temari will certainly want to see her brother, who knows how much longer he might have.” Baki turned his eyes down to the floor.

“Have you made progress tracking down the Akatsuki members that took Gaara?” Sasuke interrupted, disturbing his thoughts. _They’ve been gone for so long without sending any update._

He sighed.

“We sent out tracking teams. Unfortunately, they were found dead this morning. Some were missing but we assume that if they were alive, they would have sent word on their status by this point.” He ran his hand across his bald head.

“Are there no ninken to track them down by scent? Surely there are other options here?” Sasuke asked.

“Our strength as a village was never in tracking, but infiltration. Tracking is delegated to very specific groups. As it is, Yura’s group held most of our trained trackers. Now with most of them missing or found dead, I fear we are left with none to continue on the search. If the sandstorm hadn’t wiped away their tracks, we might have stood a chance.” Baki sighed deeply.

“We have sent a secondary crew out in the direction Yura’s unit went. They will look for visual cues, but I fear it will come to nothing.”

Sasuke hoped that Tsunade had sent a team with a Hyuga or an Inuzuka. _We need someone with better tracking abilities than this._

Kankuro groaned on his cot. Baki swooped to his side. _When will Lady Chiyo arrive, she’s our only hope now._ Ibiki glanced down at his former pupil.

He brought his hand up to his forehead and balked at the warm clammy feel of his skin. _This can’t be good._

As if hearing his thoughts, Chiyo and Ebizo calmly walked through the door. Chiyo looked down at Kankuro’s body. “Where are the medics?” She asked.

Sasuke looked at the two old timers who had just walked in. There didn’t seem to be anything particularly special about them, but she didn’t miss the way Baki bowed deep in reverence towards them.

“They are currently making an antidote. They should be returning soon.” Chiyo nodded.

“I hear that you believe Sasori was responsible for this?” Ebizo asked Baki.

“That’s correct. You can ask Sasuke for more details as she was present during the attack.”

Chiyo turned to Sasuke, “When did Kankuro get hit?”

“I didn’t see the exact moment. I believe it happened shortly before Gaara was taken, when the other Akatsuki member set off an explosion.”

“Then it’s already been three days. If he doesn’t pull through soon it is inevitable he will die.” Chiyo stated coolly. “Now, let’s see if there’s anything I can do.” Chiyo laid her hands out and placed them over Kankuro’s body. She moved them slowly up and down the length of his body, searching for something.

“Has his blood been tested?”

“Yes. Here are all of the lab results.” Baki handed her a clipboard. Her eyes ran over the results.

She handed it back. “Let’s see what the medics come up with. I will cleanse some of the poison from his vital organs, but unless an antidote is made he will surely perish. I’m only delaying the inevitable. Fetch me a bucket of water and one empty bucket.”

Baki called down the hall for a medic to grab what she needed. Sasuke sat and watched the process unfold. _So this is how a Suna medic operates. I wonder what Sakura would do now?_

Chiyo focused her chakra, pulling up the water in an orb. She pushed the water into Kankuro’s chest and let it sit. She pulled the water back out and it had a brown tinge to it. She repeated the process over and over. Sasuke turned to Ebizo. “What is she doing?”

“She’s using the water as a source for the poison to bind to. It doesn’t eliminate all of the particles but it can diminish its potency.”

Sasuke hoped that at the very least Kankuro would now make it so that Temari had time to say her goodbye.

Down the hall she heard the faint noise of doors burst open. “Where is he?” She heard Temari’s panicked voice ring out.

Sasuke took a calming breath and steeled her nerves. _Temari, be strong you’ll be okay no matter what happens._

She saw Temari burst through the door and rush over to Kankuro’s side. She watched as Temari cradled his face and talked with Lady Chiyo.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned around annoyed at whoever was touching her _have they heard of boundaries?_ And stared right into a pair of bright blue eyes.

Sasuke shot her eyebrows up in surprise as she pulled the boy into a big hug. “Naruto! Oh my god, what are you doing here?” She burrowed her face into his shoulder.

She was hit with a wave of his familiar scent of broth and faded deodorant. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug back. “We were with Granny Tsunade when your message came through, so we were sent here as back-up.” They stood and embraced for a few seconds longer.

Sasuke pulled back. “I can’t believe you’re here right now.”

Naruto grinned a big toothy grin at her. “Believe it!” Sasuke rolled her eyes and smirked at his childish antics. _It’s so good to see you._

His eyes seemed to reflect the same sentiment.

Sakura walked through the door of the hospital room and saw Sasuke, she too pulled her into a hug. “It’s been so long Sasuke.” Sasuke nodded at her.

“I have a lot to catch you up on when we head back.”

“Oh I hope so, you spent the last few months away from the village doing who knows what. I expect you spent at least a little bit of time living it up.” Sakura smiled at her.

Kakashi gave a friendly wave to Sasuke. “Yo. Hope you’ve been well.” He walked over to her and gave her a pat on the head, ruffling her hair.

Sasuke nodded. “I’ve been well.”

Chiyo looked up at the commotion and narrowed her eyes. She lunged forward at Kakashi. “White Fang of the leaf, I will kill you where you stand.”

Kakashi looked up in surprise. He jumped back from Chiyo’s advances.

Sasuke scowled. _What is she doing? Who’s the White Fang of the leaf?_

Ebizo called out to stop his sister. “Big Sis, that is not the White Fang, that’s just someone who looks like him!”

Chiyo stopped in her tracks. She broke in a giggle. “Oh I knew that, I was just playing senile.” Sasuke highly doubted that.

Kankuro let out another groan. Sakura rushed over, putting her hair up in a band. Chiyo went to join her, the two women started talking. Sasuke couldn’t hear everything that they were saying but she heard medical terminology pass between them.

They became absorbed in their work.

Kakashi went to sit in the hallway and pulled out his book. Sasuke and Naruto went to join him.

Naruto let out a shaky sigh and turned to face Sasuke. “Hey, it’s been a while Sasuke.” He grinned a big toothy grin at her.

“Hey Naruto. It has been a while.” She grinned widely up at him. “How long have you been back?”

“I only got back about a month and a half ago. You never responded to my last letter but I guess that’s because you were here in Suna.” He swung his legs.

“Hn. Sorry about that. I read it the day before I left for here. I couldn’t really respond and let you know where I was going.”

The two continued to talk, Naruto regaling her with tales of his adventures with Jiraiya. Sasuke smiled.

_He certainly hasn’t changed much, he’s a little more mature and doesn’t quite bounce off the walls like he normally would have, but he’s still the same Naruto._

He stopped suddenly. “Hey. Kakashi sensei. Who’s the White Fang of the leaf?”

Kakashi looked up from his book. “Hm? He was my father.”

“Ehhhh? Your father?” Naruto screeched. Sasuke could have screeched alongside him, if she wasn’t so couth.

“Yes, he was a shinobi of the leaf before he died a number of years ago.” His voice remained cheery but there a sadness in his visible features that only Sasuke could pick up on after years of missions with him.

Sasuke felt a pang of sympathy for Kakashi.

Ebizo stepped out of the room and into the hallway. “He was a particularly vicious opponent during the war. He killed a number of Suna shinobi including my nephew, Chiyo’s son.”

Kakashi remained silent.

“Not that I blame you for that of course. It was a long time ago. Many things have changed since then.” Ebizo murmured.

Baki came up to them. “Kankuro was clutching this in his hands. It looks to be a piece of the robe that ripped off from Sasori.”

Kakashi held his hand out and Baki placed the cloth in his hands. He summoned Pakkun. “I need you to track down this scent. Return when you have pinned down a location.” Pakkun nodded his head and ran out.

They all watched him disappear into the distance.

* * *

Sasuke spent the night tossing and turning.

In the morning, Sasuke made her bed and patiently waited for Sakura to wake up. She pulled out a book and let her mind wander.

_What are the Akatsuki’s goals? They’ll never be able to make Gaara cooperate with them, so what’s the use in kidnapping him?_

Sasuke couldn’t figure out an answer. Sakura whined in her bed and stretched her arms up. “Good morning Sasuke.” She groggily croaked out.

“Good morning Sakura. How’d you sleep?” Sasuke closed her book and turned her body to face Sakura. She was sprawled across her bed, rubbing her eyes. Sasuke couldn’t miss the bags still beneath her eyes. Her and Chiyo were up until the early morning working on Kankuro and formulating an antidote.

“Oh I slept fine but I barely got any rest. I just feel so anxious and ready to go right now. It’s tough thinking about Gaara off with those guys somewhere.” Sakura sat up in bed and pulled her legs to her chest.

Sasuke nodded. “Did you want to grab breakfast while we wait for Pakkun to return? I know a few good breakfast nooks or else we can just grab a coffee and walk around?”

“That sounds lovely, but I have to work more on the antidote. Their medics had to travel to the northern border to gather more herbs and they should be back by now.”

Sasuke nodded. “I understand.”

“Maybe you should take Naruto with you, he wouldn’t stop asking about you ever since he got back. It’s been _sooo_ annoying.” Sakura huffed.

Sasuke felt her cheeks heat up. _He’s been asking about me?_ She quickly cleared her head and composed herself before Sakura could pick up on anything.

She excused herself from their room and walked down to where the two men were sleeping.

Sasuke knocked on the boy’s door. She heard a loud crash from behind the door and thumps against the wall.

The door opened to a sleepy half-awake Naruto rubbing his eyes. “Hngh.” He blinked a few times. “Sasuke! Hey! Let me get dressed and I’ll be right out.” He zoomed back into his room and dressed in a flash before racing back to Sasuke. “Okay. I’m ready.” He grinned at her and was practically vibrating.

 _He always has so much energy._ Sasuke mused.

“Would you like to grab breakfast? We didn’t really have time to catch up yesterday with all that was going on.”

“Absolutely. My treat!”

Sasuke smiled and led him towards her favorite spot. They grabbed a table in the corner and ordered two coffees.

“So. Catch me up. What did you learn in these past two and a half years with Master Jiraiya?” Sasuke smirked and poured a creamer into her cup.

His eyes lit up. “You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been up to.” He went on an animated storytelling adventure detailing everything from his skills and failures in genjutstu, taijutstu, the rasengan and Jiraiya’s many misadventures in ‘research.’

Their waitress placed their plates in front of them and cheerily walked away.

Naruto looked down and sobered up. “It seems like people here aren’t too concerned about Gaara’s disappearance huh?”

“I’m not sure. What else can one do but try and live life like normal? Especially when they can’t make a difference in his return.” Sasuke took a bite of scrambled eggs and examined the emotions running across Naruto’s face. “I’m serious. People here love him, but it’s not in their nature to worry about something out of their control. I’ve been here long enough to see that.”

Naruto sighed and poked at his food. He was uncharacteristically quiet. “I suppose you’re right. I’m just… I don’t know.”

“Hn. You feel strong about it because you’re also a jinchuriki.” It was more statement than question. Naruto kept his eyes glued to his plate.

“You didn’t see how people rallied around him when he was fighting, how they carried out his orders even though it meant leaving him exposed. He is a commanding leader and well respected from it. These people are grieving, they just know that life doesn’t stop for tragedy.” Sasuke continued eating.

“It would be nice to see that they care about him is all.” Naruto picked up a sausage link and took a bite.

Sasuke breathed in deeply. “I see I can’t convince you otherwise. Let’s just focus on nourishing our bodies and waiting for Pakkun. Once we get word we can head out.”

Naruto remained silent. He took a deep breath in and the moment passed.

He smiled slyly at her. “So I hear that you’ve been quite popular here. Broken a few hearts already.” He bit down on his fork and smirked.

Sasuke cursed. _Temari, what have you been telling people?_

“I’ve done no such thing. It’s just Temari trying to rile me up. She’s so good at that. She does it almost as well as you to be honest.” She scoffed. “Really, I have better things to do than be distracted by Suna shinobi of all people.”

Naruto laughed. He felt the nagging sense of jealousy he’d been feeling start to slip away.

“So. It was the Akatsuki who took him huh?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think,” he paused, “ _he_ had anything to do with it?”

“I’m not sure. He’s kept a low profile since attacking you. All I know is that tracking the men who took Gaara down could bring us one step closer.”

They both stared intently at their coffee.

A barking outside the diner alerted them to Pakkun’s presence. “Hey! You two, come here I found his scent!”

Naruto and Sasuke shot up out of their seats. Sasuke slapped money down on the table and the three raced back to the tower.

Pakkun led them to Kakashi who was carefully peering over a scroll.

“Kakashi! I’ve found his scent. It’s only a half day away from here. I need some water but then I’ll be ready to go.” Pakkun barked out, his furry chest heaving as he spoke.

Kakashi looked up. “Great work Pakkun. Naruto go get Sakura and we will get ready to leave.” Naruto nodded and ran off.

Kakashi shifted in his seat and crossed his legs. He cleared his throat.

“Sasuke. I just received word from the Hokage. Gai’s team is being sent as additional back up.”

He paused. “She is requesting you come back.” He stared at her as her face contorted in anger.

Sasuke burst out. “That’s ridiculous! She’s the one who sent me here. Until Orochimaru has found his new vessel, doesn’t it still make sense for me to stay away from Konoha? I’m not going to leave in the middle of this mission.” She glared at him and he held his hand up in defense.

“She didn’t explain why or what the circumstances are. She just stated that Anko has a mission of vital importance and it is imperative you return at once.”

Sasuke scowled. It didn’t make sense. _Why would she call me back now? I’ve already engaged with the Akatsuki, I know their abilities best._

“Sasuke. It’s best not to turn down a direct order from the Hokage. We can handle things here. With all of the work Anko has been doing recently I believe it is best you go to assist her with whatever she needs.”

“I understand.” Sasuke felt her fingernails cut deep into her palm as a tiny trickle of blood seeped out and onto the floor.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 back together again....and then promptly gets split up. Don't worry, they will meet back up again but Sasuke and Anko have something important to do next.
> 
> There were quite a few kind comments left last chapter, it is very encouraging to read. Thank you all and I hope I can meet your expectations and if not, I hope it is still a little bit enjoyable :)


	4. Chapter 4

Sasuke seethed her entire way back to the village. There was a small part of her that was curious about what Anko needed her for, but it was largely overshadowed by her swift and abrupt removal from the Gaara retrieval team.

She had stormed out in a huff, failing to say goodbye to Naruto or Sakura. She slightly regretted that decision now _What if they didn’t return?_ but it didn’t do well to fixate on that.

She practically flew through the trees, moving at a speed that even Gai-sensei would be proud of. When she got to the village walls, she jumped down from the branches, stomping her feet onto the ground causing a crack to form beneath her feet.

Kotetsu and Izumo looked up from their stand with a jolt. Izumo was poised to make a snarky remark about her aggressive entrance but quickly bit back his words when he saw the venomous look on her face. If anyone had asked, he would have sworn her eyes were glowing red, despite the fact that her sharingan was not activated.

Sasuke jumped from rooftop to rooftop making her way rapidly to the Hokage’s tower. She raced up the stairs, weaving in between chunin wandering about with their arms full of paperwork.

She didn’t bother to knock on the door before busting through the office doors.

Shizune jumped back in surprise. Tonton in her arms let out a squeak.

Tsunade folded her hands and laid them down on the desktop. “Sasuke. Keep it professional. I don’t need you storming in here like you own the place, raging with murderous intent.” Her eyes narrowed. _Everything has to be a fight with her._

Sasuke scowled. “Tsunade. Sunagakure is in a dire situation. I work well with the members of Team 7. I have intel about their mission and the Akatsuki members who kidnapped the Kazekage. Why the hell did you pull me back? Do you enjoy toying with me so much that you have to interfere with the effectiveness of a mission?” She spat out her words, never breaking eye contact with the powerful woman before her.

_This bitch. I hope she fights me right here and now. I don’t care if she is my Hokage. I’ll-_

“Sasuke.” Tsunade interrupted her thoughts. “I am your Hokage. Don’t address so informally you insolent brat!” Her voice rose as she shouted her way through her sentence, culminating in her fist slamming down on her desk and cracking it in two.

Sasuke’s sharingan activated instinctively.

Shizune rushed between the two. “Please! Calm down! This isn’t the time for this! Anko is ready to leave at a moment’s notice! If you two waste time here, our window of opportunity will close!” Shizune yelled, her voice pleaded with the two hot headed women.

Sasuke tensed. _That’s right. Anko has something she needs me for._ She took a deep breath in and held it for a short while before breathing back out.

Tsunade stood up, her fists clenched.

“It’s fair to say that after the attack by the Akatsuki, we can assume that your presence in Suna was made known to Orochimaru and his spies.” Tsunade paused. She too took a deep breath in.

_I tolerate her because she is powerful. I tolerate her because of lineage. I tolerate her because Lord Third and the Elders paid special reverence to her well-being._

She released her breath.

“Anko has found Orochimaru’s hideout. We aren’t sure if he has already swapped his body with another or if he is still preparing for that ritual to take place. In any case, he either no longer has need for your body or he knows your whereabouts and it no longer makes sense to hide you.”

Sasuke couldn’t believe her ears. “What?”

Tsunade continued. “She has requested that you join her team in killing Orochimaru.” Tsunade looked straight at her. “You have to leave immediately. We’ve already waited so long for your return that if any more time gets wasted we could lose him.”

Sasuke felt her heart thump loudly in her chest. _This is it. This is what Anko has been waiting for._ “I understand. I can leave immediately.”

“Good. You will meet Anko at the east gates. Go. Now.” With that, Sasuke leapt out the window and raced off to find her former mentor.

Tsunade watched her form grow smaller and she sped away. She figured it was coincidence that the further away Sasuke got, the more her migraine started to recede.

She sighed.

“Shizune. Grab me a bottle of sake.”

* * *

Kakashi cursed under his breath. He had been practicing with his Mangekyo sharingan for a few months already, but it always took considerable effort.

Not to mention, they had been traveling nonstop and even had to contend with a formidable clone of Itachi. In that instance he had been glad that Sasuke was recalled by the Hokage or there was no telling where their team would have splintered off too. He doubted that Sasuke would’ve had a clear enough head to continue their retrieval mission.

Naruto kept chasing the blonde-haired man as he taunted him from high up in the sky. Gaara’s arm bounced around limply as the clay bird hit an air current and was thrust upwards.

Kakashi wasn’t oblivious to the red chakra of the nine-tails leaking out from the seal on Naruto’s stomach.

He also wasn’t oblivious to the pale, gaunt face of the blonde man likely weakened from his encounter in Suna in which he lost an arm and his large ego was bruised.

The only glimmer of hope he had was that their opponent was weak against lighting style attacks. Although at this range, Kakashi would not be nearly close enough to inflict any kind of damage.

No. He had to rely on his sharingan.

With a deep breath he lifted his headband and stared intently at the head of the man. The air around him started to twist and turn and just as Kakashi was about to decapitate him, the ground beneath rumbled. A loud cracking sound came from behind him _that’s the direction of Sakura and Chiyo!_ And his aim waivered, taking out the remaining arm of their opponent.

His target bit down on his lip, drawing blood. He shouted out in pain as blood dripped down his side.

Naruto remained unfaltered from his course of action and seized the opportunity to advance and tear Gaara’s lifeless body out of the mouth of the bird.

The instant he pulled back, a bright explosion erupted throwing Naruto and Gaara to the ground. “Naruto!” Kakashi ran forward to his student’s side. His skin was peeling off revealing a glowing red figure beneath the surface. _Shit, is that the nine-tails?_ An unearthly groan was coming from his mouth and Kakashi whipped out the seal Jiraiya handed him and slapped it on Naruto’s forehead.

The groan stopped and Naruto started to groggily come to consciousness. Kakashi felt a figure approaching him and turned to see his opponent’s leg heading for his face. He activated his Chidori and using his free hand to block the leg, stuck his hand through the man’s chest, killing him instantly.

Gaara’s body was mostly intact, although the explosion had severed his left hand from his body.

The morbid part of Kakashi figured that he wouldn’t miss it.

Naruto had moved to cradle his friend’s head and was silently crying onto his red hair. Kakashi glanced down at his bloody forearm and pretended not to hear the tiny sobs coming from Naruto.

Off in the distance he heard Sakura call out their names. He felt a wave of relief go through his body that they were unharmed.

He stared up at the sky and took a deep breath in _there would be a lot to report back on this mission._

* * *

Sasuke’s thoughts were racing. _Is it finally going to happen? Is Orochimaru going down? What if he knows something about Itachi? He was a part of the Akatsuki. If he dies before I can get information what If I never find out the truth? What if-_

Her ramblings were cut short as she saw Anko standing impatiently down by the gates.

“Anko!” She called out and dropped from the rooftop down by her side.

Sasuke locked eyes with Anko. She had an intense look in her eyes and seemed to stare straight into Sasuke’s soul.

“Are you ready to take this bastard down?” Anko smirked, transforming her features into something dark.

The intensity was radiating off of her. Sasuke could sense her mind was a million miles away, thinking of all the dark experiments and research that she was exposed to during her time with Orochimaru.

Anko’s eyes cleared a bit and focused back on Sasuke. 

Sasuke stared back darkly at her. “Hn. Of course I am.” An unspoken feeling flitted between the two women _they would get their vengeance._

Anko reared up to go, her legs tensing and prepping to bound away when she stopped herself. Her intense dark mood rapidly switched, catching Sasuke off guard.

“Oh! I almost forgot; we have two members of ANBU joining us.” She put one hand on her hip and brought the other hand up to rub the back of her head.

Sasuke felt her stomach flop and she stopped her muscles from lurching forward to leave. _Anko, you never change._ She thought bemusedly.

“They should be meeting us here soon. I’ve worked with one of them before, he’s a solid shinobi. I haven’t met the other one, he’s about your age.” Anko folder her arms and looked at the sun settling into its highest point of the day. _We should have left already._

She let a small frown turn the corners of her mouth down.

“When will they be here?” Sasuke asked. _I had to race back from Suna and these guys just get to take their sweet time coming? Something’s off._

“They’ll be here soon. In fact, I’m surprised they didn’t show up when you did, they received their summons as soon as you returned to the village borders.” Anko huffed in annoyance.

Just then two shinobi dropped down in front of them. The tall chestnut-haired man spoke first. “Hello, my name in Yamato. I’m pleased to assist you in this mission. I think we all have reason to hate Orochimaru and I’m glad to undertake such an important task you.” He bowed his head slightly.

Anko looked him up and down. “Well… Yamato, huh? We are pleased to have you here.”

Yamato gave her a quick smile and glanced at Sasuke.

The younger pale boy with black hair spoke next.

“My name is Sai. Pleased to meet you. I hope I can be of assistance.” He plastered a fake smile on his face and Sasuke instantly disliked him.

_Something seems…off with him._

“Sai? I thought a shinobi named Akira was joining us?” Anko asked, confused.

“Yes, Mr. Danzo insisted I join you in this mission. That’s partially why we aren’t on time, the Hokage needed to be convinced of my use.” His smile never once left his face, but his eyes had a glint of sarcasm to them that grated Anko.

The two women shared a quick glance. _He will have to be watched._ Anko’s eyes flashed darkly.

 _Got it._ Sasuke nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Well. We should get going, shouldn’t we?” Yamato interjected.

Anko looked over at him and nodded. “I assume you all know why we are here. Orochimaru’s location has been found.”

She paused, letting the gravity of her words sink in.

“He is in a hideout north of here in the sound village. I haven’t confirmed this, but our intel claims he has not yet switched bodies so he is likely weakened and will be able to be taken down. We will be the only team traveling to his hideout. There’s no back-up. We will only have each other to depend on. I’ve worked with Sasuke and… Yamato before. I will gladly trust my life in their hands. Sai, I don’t know who you are, but I have to trust that as a Leaf shinobi, you are trustworthy.” _Even one working for Danzo wouldn’t possibly try to mess up a mission with Orochimaru._

“We will move in B formation. Let’s reconvene upon arrival. If we get split up move to formation D. Understood?” Anko stared sternly at her team.

Sasuke nodded.

“Understood captain.” Yamato said.

Sai smiled and nodded.

“Good. Let’s move!”

The team bounded away Yamato in the lead, Sasuke to his left, Sai to his right, and Anko taking the rear. The shinobi team pressed on, hoping to reach their destination by nightfall.

* * *

The Orochimaru hit team moved quickly. They arrived at the border of the sound village in record speed.

Anko stopped them and directed the two ANBU shinobi to take C formation around the western side of the hideout while she and Sasuke would move in F formation around the eastern side.

As the two men bounded away Anko breathed a sigh of relief.

“I don’t trust that Sai.” She watched as their forms turned into small bouncing dots on the horizon.

“I agree. Can we trust him to go off without us?” Sasuke asked.

“I trust Yamato. He wouldn’t dare do anything to mess this mission up. If Danzo has some secondary purpose in sending one of his own along, I can only assume it won’t interfere with our plan. Now, let’s move out.”

The two women moved along the eastern side until they found a door hidden behind a genjutsu. Sasuke held her hand up and the two stopped. She examined it for traps and not finding any, the two entered.

The two women moved in immediately got to work. A barrage of curse-mark ridden shinobi attacked them. Sasuke removed her sword, taken along for this very purpose of slaying many opponents at once, and hacked away.

She felt a daintly hand press into her pressure points as she was distracted and her chakra stopped flowing.

_Dammit! Is this some kind of gentle fist knock-off?_

She turned around and chopped the head off of her opponent. Her sharingan faltered, losing the chakra it needed to stay activated.

_No matter. I can take opponents of this level on without my sharingan._

She continued her assault until it was just her and Anko left. They raced through the doors and were met by Kabuto.

“Hello ladies.” He leered at them.

Sasuke felt the floor disappear beneath her feet and her body plummeted hundreds of meters down to a cavern underneath the hideout. She heard Anko cry out her name as they became separated.

 _This whole mission’s gone to hell._ Sasuke thought as her heart raced and her back smacked forcefully against a stone slab, knocking the wind out of her.

She heard a feminine voice laugh from the shadows. “I admire your tenacity Sasuke. Truly, I do. It’s why I desired you all those years ago.” Orochimaru slithered out from the corner of the room, his face dimly lit by a lone candle flickering on the wall.

Sasuke struggle to get off the ground, her throat constricted and struggled for air as her body adjusted to its impact against the ground. Her vision blurred as she rolled onto her stomach and gently pulled herself up.

“Although truth be told, I still desire your vessel in an almost painful way.” He let out a sigh. “I could take you right now and no one would ever see you again.”

Sasuke stood shakily before him. Every inch of her body ached, and her chakra was still disrupted but she raised her sword defensively. “You can try. I promise I won’t make it easy for you.” She spat out a collection of the blood that had started to pool in her mouth. _Shit. I’m not going to make it._

The thought sobered her greatly. She thought of all the people she would be leaving behind, she thought of her ancestors who would have to bear the weight of knowing their justice would not come, she thought of Naruto and promptly blinked back tears.

Orochimaru laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to force you. I have another, much more willing sacrifice in my ranks who has a lovely crystalizing kekkei genkai. She has been begging to let me absorb her for a few years now. I think I will take her up on that offer.”

He looked at the girl standing before him. “I had Kabuto check up on you not too long ago. I was quite impressed. You’ve certainly been up to a lot.”

Sasuke didn’t respond. _He hasn’t made a move yet. It would be foolish to strike first, he is undeniably stronger than me._

She felt the throbbing pulse of her head injury begin to grow stronger as she strained her body’s willpower just by standing.

_Shit._

“I was undeniably disappointed that you refused my gift and never thought to seek me out. But, I also admire your ability to follow your own path.” He paused and smirked slightly to himself in the dim lighting of the cavern. “I’ll give you a reward, for coming so far on your own.” He gave the girl a devious grin.

Sasuke scowled. “I don’t need any favors from you. Come on. Fight me.” Sasuke moved her sword forward, trying to keep distance between them.

Orochimaru just chuckled. He flickered over to her and slapped her across her face, throwing her to the floor.

“Really now. You can’t expect to take me on in your state, and I’m trying to be helpful. Just listen to what I’m trying to tell you before I lose patience.” He sighed.

“I like you, but only so much. Those sharingan you keep flashing at me could fetch a pretty penny with or without the rest of you attached to them.” He smirked down at her and licked his lips with his obscenely long tongue. He bent down close to whisper in her ear, “So you better be nice to me.”

Chills ran up the back of Sasuke’s neck. The part of her worried about self-preservation overshadowed her ego and she shut up.

Orochimaru stepped back. “Good.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in.

Sasuke moved to sit up and waited for Orochimaru to continue.

“During and even after my time as an honorable leaf shinobi, I worked very closely with Danzo. He assisted in obtaining vessels for me to experiment on and I assisted him in some of his… less than savory requests.” He paused to gauge her reaction.

Sasuke worked hard to maintain neutrality on her features. “I see. What is the point of this?”

He chuckled lowly. “Impatient as ever even as I hold your very life in my hands. Well, there was one very interesting request that he made of me about 10 years ago shortly after the massacre of your clan. I hate to say it but there were so many bodies left behind that Konoha simply couldn’t keep track of all the remains. Truly unfortunate. I had a hideout near the land of rivers on the western border. I implore you to explore on your own time.”

Sasuke held her breath in. _What is he saying? This is obviously a trap, why else would he try to get me to go to his hideout alone._

“Why would I believe anything you’re saying?” Although her curiosity was piqued. His implication that Danzo was hiding something sinister struck a chord with her, she never trusted him since that day three years ago he intercepted her investigation into the massacre.

“You have no reason to, but I admire the strength you’ve acquired on your own and wish to reward you.” He smiled deviously. “I also will appreciate watching you grow more and more powerful until you become a threat to me. I think what you find there will be… encouraging for your personal development.”

Sasuke blinked. _What is he hinting at?_

“Just be careful of Danzo. He’s dangerous and snooping around his secrets could be disastrous. I’d hate to lose you before you reach the height of your power.”

He pressed into her pressure points and she felt her chakra return.

He showed her the hand signs to release the barrier keeping his hideout hidden and told her which room in particular to sift through.

“Sasuke. My offer will always remain. If you desire power, come seek me out. For now, I’ll hand you back over to Anko. Kabuto must be finished with her by now.”

He formed a series of hand signs and the walls surrounding them moved, revealing a series of hallways.

She glanced tentatively at Orochimaru one last time, then jogged off in the direction he pointed.

He watched her go until the shadows hid her form.

_Soon enough you will realize that I can help you still. I just have to give you a push in the right direction. You’ve matured so much, I won’t need to absorb your eyes to destroy Konoha you will do that all on your own if you know the truth._

He slunk back into the shadows and went off to find Kabuto.

“You can release them.” His eyes glanced to the computer monitor showing Yamato and Sai worming their way through a maze of hallways. “Let some of the prisoners chase them up to the surface. We can leave while they are occupied and go to our northern hideout. I’d like to see how Karin is doing with her new responsibilities.”

“Yes Lord Orochimaru.” Kabuto pressed a green button and three levels above them a swath of prisoners all adorned with the curse mark were let out of their cells. Kabuto pressed the intercom and announced that whoever killed the two leaf shinobi who were about to enter their holding cell would be freed.

A frenzy ensued. _Those monsters don’t even realize they have no chance to defeat those two._ Kabuto chuckled to himself and watched as the shinobi approached the door. _Ah well, at least they will keep the intruders occupied._

He watched as a separate screen showed Sasuke reuniting with Anko, who had been beaten badly but was still alive. “Hmm? Lord Orochimaru, I’m surprised you didn’t take the Uchiha girl. She would make an entirely more suitable vessel than Guren.” He crinkled his nose when he said the woman’s name.

Orochimaru chuckled. “Kabuto. You have to start thinking long term.” He paused, intending to leave it at that. Kabuto could barely mask his curiosity and let out a soft sigh.

Orochimaru turned to look at him. “I told her about the western hideout that I abandoned about 10 years ago. You remember, the one that the land of rivers started sniffing around.” Kabuto nodded. Orochimaru continued, “If she is as smart as I anticipate, she will seek it out and come to realize that I was doing work for Danzo that involved experimentation with her dead clansmen’s body parts. I trust that your intel is correct Kabuto, and that she has been snooping around ANBU secrets regarding the massacre. That tells me that revenge is still forefront in her mind. Once she starts to doubt Danzo, she will start to doubt the village and that will lead to instability in Konoha if the last remaining Uchiha starts to lose her loyalty. This all leads to aiding in my ultimate goal of destroying the Leaf.” He looked at Kabuto for confirmation he was understanding his plans.

“Besides, I haven’t given up completely on her becoming my vessel. I want to wait until she is more powerful and can be a threat to me. I always enjoyed the thrill of battle.” He smiled maniacally. “And if she gets taken out by Danzo for uncovering some of his many dark secrets, I’m sure that their Jinchuriki will tear that village apart. It’s a win for me anyway this comes out.”

Kabuto nodded and pushed his glasses back up on his nose. He wasn’t sure that playing so many games of manipulation was best but did not dare say that to Lord Orochimaru. His plans always seemed to end in success no matter how much initial doubt Kabuto had.

He watched as Sasuke emerged on the surface, carefully pulling Anko alongside her as the woman slumped precariously on her shoulder.

They were reunited with their comrades and Anko was carried by the larger of the two men. They exchanged words and bounded away; Kabuto assumed that they were headed back to Konoha to make a new plan but he didn’t care much.

Lord Orochimaru had the situation under control. All he had to do was get them safely to Karin at the northern hideout.

He pushed his glasses back up his nose with a forceful nudge and flipped the screens off. He had work to do.

* * *

Sasuke slumped against the shower wall and let the water hit her in the face.

_Any second now I’ll be summoned by Tsunade. Yamato and Sai have likely reported to their ANBU commanders and with Anko in an induced coma for who knows how long, I’m the only one left to report to the Hokage._

Sasuke repressed her shudder that threatened to course through her even in the steaming heat of the shower.

_Sakura has warned me about her temper when you’re faced with it one on one. Hell, I’ve seen it first hand after a few sour missions but even I’m scared what will happen when there’s no one there but me to take it._

She grabbed her soap and lathered her feet with suds, watching as the dirt of the cavern washed away down the drain.

She had been trying to push the events of her one-on-one encounter with Orochimaru out of her mind but she knew that it would have to be disclosed during her debriefing with Tsunade.

She could always lie but one day Anko would wake up and tell her side of the story and Tsunade would realize that there was an undisclosed amount of time where she was alone with Orochimaru. That definitely would not bode well for her.

No, she would have to tell the truth. Mostly.

There was no way that she would be able to lie about the whole thing, but she couldn’t let Tsunade know about what Orochimaru had told her either.

She thought for a moment longer and crafted together a believable story.

Yes, Orochimaru had talked to her alone and somehow, she escaped alive. There’s no way that they’d believe she escaped on her own merits against someone as powerful as Orochimaru so she would have to tell them that he let her go voluntarily. Not so that she could investigate Danzo’s secret research _which even still I’m not sure what his true purpose on that is_ but because he didn’t want to face her as an opponent until she was closer to his level.

_They might buy that, it implies he is still thinking of using me for a vessel but just at a later date and so of course he wouldn’t want to harm me now._

It was the best she could come up with so Sasuke practiced what she would say word for word until it became believable. She ran through the course of events so that when asked, it would come forward like the truth.

_I can’t believe I’m going to lie to the Hokage about a mission’s details._

She sighed and turned the water off, grabbed her towel and went to find clean clothes in her bedroom.

Someone must have been watching her, waiting for her to finish up because no sooner had she put her clothes on and brushed her hair did a knock on her door break her silent routine.

She opened it and to her surprise Genma was standing there, chewing on his characteristic senbon.

“Tsunade wants to speak with you.” He looked her up and down feigning disinterest. He, like many others, was wondering how she had left her skirmish with Orochimaru entirely unharmed.

Sasuke nodded and let him lead her away.

* * *

The ensuing interrogation was taxing but Sasuke ultimately left without revealing the truth of her encounter.

Tsunade had started taking her rage out long before Sasuke arrived, _one small grace,_ and Shizune was picking up shattered ceramic pieces when Sasuke entered the room.

After Sasuke told her tale, a Yamanaka was brought in to verify the encounter.

Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t Ino’s father otherwise her self-inflicted genjutsu, which showed the doctored conversation and ensuing chain of events verifying Sasuke’s story, would have been discovered. Sasuke allowed herself a small self-satisfied smirk _that’s the power of the Uchiha_.

She quickly checked her mailbox, _nothing,_ and walked up the stairs and down the covered hallway towards her door.

She was midway down the hall when she felt the back of her neck tingle.

“Who’s there?” she called out to the darkness.

An orange haired man stepped out from the shadows; a cat faced ANBU mask planted on his face. “You can call me Fu. Danzo would like to speak with you.”

Sasuke stared unwaveringly at him, trying to gauge his emotions. She sensed nothing. _I’ll just have to take this risk._

“Hn. You lead the way.”

It would be a very taxing night.

* * *

Sasuke was brought back to the very same hideout that she had been to three years ago for her first encounter with Danzo.

She was brought through a maze of tunnels and landed outside Danzo’s doors.

Fu left her alone and a few moments later Danzo’s booming voice called her in.

He nodded to her and motioned for her to sit on the mat on the floor before him.

He cleared his throat and got right to the point.

“Sasuke. I had hoped that Sai could keep an eye on you. Of course, I believed he would be a good fit for your mission, but I must admit that I had ulterior motives.” Danzo paused and poured himself a cup of tea, blowing softly on it as steam rose up.

“I was worried about the length of your stay in Suna, how it might have affected you and your allegiance to Konoha. I wanted a loyal pair of eyes to see how you would handle a mission of such importance to our village’s prosperity and safety. Clearly, I had no cause for concern. Your mission was executed perfectly although it ended in failure.” He took a sip of his tea.

“Although that is a reflection on Anko’s poor leadership. She gets too hot headed around that man. The Hokage was a fool to allow her to indulge her revenge fantasy. Now our best shot at ending that man has slipped away.”

Sasuke choked down her anger at hearing his words berate her sensei and let him continue.

“In any case. I called you here to meet me for a very important reason. I can see as clear as anyone else who pays attention that the Hokage is not utilizing you properly. How obvious could it be? She sent you, one of the last Uchiha, to Suna for months. It’s shameful.” He scoffed and closed his eye. He took a deep breath in and continued.

“Not to mention she refuses to allow you any autonomy. If you aren’t being saddled with Kakashi you’re forced into a team of weaklings. I see that. How many B rank missions have you been on in the past year? No respectable jonin takes missions at that level.”

Sasuke felt the bitterness creep into the back of her throat. _I’ve had that very same thought many times before._

“She is undermining you. Or she doesn’t trust you. Neither is acceptable. You could be taking A rank and S rank no problem. You have the capacity to do so much more and she is holding you back.”

Sasuke tried to push down the feeling that he was right. _He’s a liar, a manipulator. Kakashi warned me about him. Orochimaru of all people warned me about him. I’m here to find out information._

Still, he had reached that part of her that secretly felt all of those things he was saying. _He’s dangerous._

Danzo let an uncharacteristic smile grace his face. “You look conflicted. I feel the same. How is it possible to have such a disgraceful Hokage lead our village? The village your ancestors helped build. If she is willing to sink such a valuable member of our shinobi forces, there’s no telling what else she will do.” He let out a deep sigh.

“I would never do that to you. I know you can be utilized for far greater things.” He looked deep into her eyes, searching for something Sasuke couldn’t tell.

“I’d like to offer you a position in my organization.”

Sasuke felt her eyes widen in surprise. “What exactly is your organization? As far as I knew you were affiliated with ANBU alongside the Hokage. If I move closer to you won’t I just be positioning myself closer to the Hokage, who, as you’ve pointed out, does not appreciate me?”

“I head a secret organization within ANBU. You’d be reporting directly to me. If I recruit you directly, Tsunade would not be allowed to deny your movement.”

Sasuke’s heart pounded. She knew Danzo had key information about the massacre, she knew he was affiliated with Orochimaru, she knew he was conducting research related to her clan. Getting close to him would open up possibilities to get that information.

But he was dangerous. “I need some time to think about this.”

“Understandable. I will expect an answer either way by tomorrow night.”

She nodded at him and moved to stand up.

“I also expect that my proposal stays between us. I hear that the Gaara retrieval team has returned the day before last."

Sasuke jerked her head up. _They’re back!_

“This is a choice you have to make, don’t involve others. Understood?” Danzo stared at her sternly.

“I understand. I will have a response by tomorrow.” Sasuke bowed and walked out the door.

Danzo sat quietly on the mat on the floor and sipped the remainder of his tea.

_I need to keep a closer eye on her._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Orochimaru escaped, this time. Anko's team failed, but Sasuke is closer to realizing the truth. Although she is digging herself into a hole by lying to her Hokage.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a relationship heavy chapter, although there is some action towards the end. Thanks for continuing to read, this is going to be a very long piece and I'm not even halfway done with everything I want to write.

Sasuke wandered aimlessly on the nighttime streets.

_What will I do about Danzo? If I accept, I will have more autonomy and it will be more realistic to find time to investigate the hideout. I’ll put myself closer to Danzo and whatever secrets he’s hiding too._

_But it will be dangerous._

_But, maybe I need to distance myself from Tsunade. I won’t get stronger if I don’t start taking on challenges but-_

“Sasuke!” A high chirping voice called out to her from the streets. She looked around. _Oh, I’m not alone anymore._

The bustling main street was swarming with people. She looked at who had called her. “Ino? What are you doing out so late at night?”

“I just finished a shift at the hospital.” She bounced beside Sasuke, smelling faintly of antiseptic and bleach.

She looked tired but had perked up considerably at seeing her friend. “I can’t believe how long it’s been Sasuke! We seriously need to hang out. Oh my gosh it’s been literal months!” She squealed.

“We’ll have to find time, maybe this weekend? I just got back from a gigantic failure of a mission, so I’m wiped but it was good seeing you.”

Sasuke turned to walk away when Ino shouted out, “Hey! I don’t know if anyone’s told you but Kakashi sensei is in the hospital. I think Sakura is still there, Naruto probably left to go get ramen or something but you should visit him.”

Sasuke felt her blood turn icy cold. _He’s in the hospital? What happened?_

“Thanks Ino.” She altered her course and bound off to the hospital. _What a long night this is turning into._ She sighed aloud.

She signed into the visitor’s log and after a stern warning from the nurse on duty “visiting hours closed 15 minutes ago young lady, make it snappy.” She walked up the stairs to Kakashi’s room on the third floor.

He turned his head up from his small green book when she walked through the doors.

“Well, aren’t I lucky. My sweet little students all came to see me today.”

Sasuke rolled her eyes. “Don’t feel too loved just yet, I heard Sakura was here.” She glanced around his empty room. “Apparently I’m wrong.”

Kakashi chuckled. “Cold as ever, Sasuke.” He dog-eared his page _just when it was starting to get juicy._

Sasuke let out a rare smile and walked over to the window by his bedside, taking a seat on the sill.

“So what happened? I left in the middle of things when you were looking a lot more… peppy.” She paused looking at his exhausted state.

Kakashi ignored her jab. “We left shortly after you did. We tracked the two Akatsuki members to their hideout, Gai’s team joined us, Sakura and Chiyo took down the puppet user while Naruto and I took down the explosives user.”

Sasuke nodded to herself and crossed her arms. “I’m impressed. What happened with Gaara?”

A weird look briefly crossed Kakashi’s face. “We didn’t make it in time. He was dead when we arrived.”

Sasuke jolted up from her seat.

Kakashi raised his hand and continued. “Lady Chiyo was able to revive him at the cost of her life. He is alive and no worse for wear. Although he uses a wooden puppet hand now.”

“Oh. Wow.” Sasuke was lost to her thoughts for a moment. “How did you end up here?”

He sighed deeply and slumped down in his pillow. “I overused my Mangekyo sharingan taking down the explosives user.”

Sasuke clenched her fist together. “I didn’t know that you were using that now. The last time you tried you were out for weeks. What were you thinking?” Her worry started to creep in.

“Yes, yes. I know. Don’t worry I won’t take it too far. Between Sakura and Gai I already got an earful on acting reckless.”

Sasuke relaxed a little, her mind stopped racing with scenarios of Kakashi keeling over from chakra exertion.

“What about you? Why did you race back so suddenly?” Kakashi asked curiously.

Sasuke scoffed. “For an absolute failure of a mission. After visiting you I plan on seeing Anko.”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Anko’s here? What happened?”

“Kabuto nearly killed her. We were supposed to take down Orochimaru but that isn’t what happened.” She let out a big sigh, her mind instantly snapped back to her mysterious conversation and Danzo’s offer.

Kakashi was quiet for a moment. “He’s a sneaky bastard. I’m glad you’re all right.”

“Yes. The rest of us were fine. Apparently, you’d know one of the members from your ANBU years. His name’s Yamato, he’s a wood style user?” She thought back to their conversation with each other on their way to the Sound, everyone took time to explain their abilities.

Kakashi’s features softened. “He’s a good man, good shinobi. He served under me for quite some years. I’m sure he’s taking this failure very hard.”

Sasuke just hummed in agreement. They sat in silence for a while. “I should get going. The nurse was already mad that I came after visiting hours. I got you something on the way over, but I see you already have a copy.” She pulled a small green book out of her inner pocket and waved it in front of him. “I should have figured Naruto or Jiraiya would’ve gotten to you first. I’ll stop by with fruit tomorrow instead. See ya.”

“Hold on a second! How did you get that? You’re under 18, Sasuke!” He scolded her sternly.

“Come on, no one bothers checking IDs when you wear your shinobi headband.” She scoffed. “Get some rest.” She waved and walked out the door ignoring the rest of his lecture on obeying the rules and respecting the law.

She walked down one flight and stood outside of Anko’s door. It was locked and she heard beeping from inside. _Figures. She was in rough shape I doubt she could handle visitors._

She bent her head and said a quick prayer for her well-being.

Sasuke left the hospital and felt something pull her towards Ichiraku’s.

She started smiling to herself when she heard a loud obnoxious voice carry through the crowd.

The seats were all filled so she stood behind the yellow-haired boy and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, plopping her head down on top of his. He jolted in shock.

“Hey! What’s the big idea sneaking up behind someone like that?” He shouted.

“Come on, you’re a shinobi you shouldn’t let anyone sneak up on you.” She scoffed and looked down at his bowl. “You’re almost done? Want to walk around after you eat?”

He grunted in annoyance. “I still have about three more bowls to eat, but I guess I could cut it short and have instant ramen at home.” He blushed lightly _if that meant spending time with you._

Sasuke chuckled. “I’m actually hungry too, but maybe we could find a place that’s less busy? Or I could make us something.”

“Hey if you’re offering a homecooked meal I’ll take it!” He flashed a great big grin at her and she felt her pulse race.

“Besides, you need to get some vegetables in you and you definitely won’t get that by having ramen all the time.”

He slurped down the rest of his ramen and settled his bill with Teuchi who gave a wink as he left with Sasuke causing both teens to look away from each other awkwardly.

They walked in comfortable silence the way back to Sasuke’s apartment.

It was just after 11:00 by the time they got back. “I hope I’m not keeping you up. I’m still wired from a mission I just got back from, but you probably aren’t.” Sasuke glanced at Naruto but he seemed as energetic as ever.

“No way. I slept in super late this morning so I’m good. How was your mission?” He asked as Sasuke started to rummage around the fridge.

She sighed. _I’m starting to get tired telling everyone over and over again that this mission was a steaming pile of crap._

“If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s fine.” He said, uncharacteristically sensitive.

“No. I’ve just had this conversation a lot today. With Tsunade, the intelligence corps, Kakashi.” _Danzo._

“Oh, you saw Kakashi?” _Before me?_ Naruto shook his head, _why do I feel jealous about that old fossil?_

“Yeah. He looked pretty rough, but I heard about your mission with Gaara. I’m glad he’s okay.”

“Me too. He was dead for a while. Lady Chiyo was incredible.” Naruto closed his eyes wistfully.

“I’m glad that you’re okay.”

They let the silence pass comfortably as the sounds of Sasuke’s pots and pans clanged from the kitchen.

“My mission went to shit.” Sasuke whispered softly.

Naruto looked up at her. “What happened?”

Sasuke looked around the room. _Should I tell him everything?_

Unbeknownst to her Naruto was also struggling with truth telling. _Should I let her know we ran into an Itachi clone?_

“Naruto. Can you keep a secret?”

“Of course.” He looked at her with sincerity.

“I lied to the Hokage.” She waited for his response.

It came immediately. “What are you saying? Sasuke that’s crazy! You have to go right now-“

Sasuke flickered in front of him and pushed him down on her couch. “You liar! You said you keep a secret. I thought I could trust you and now you’re yammering off about telling the Hokage?”

Naruto looked up in shock. “I’m sorry, I just don’t understand why? What’s going on?”

“Like I’d want to tell you now.” She scowled and walked back to the stove. _I should burn his food_ she thought darkly.

She scrambled the food around in the pan.

In silence she loaded his plate with rice and vegetables, pouring out a portion of sauce on top.

He got up from the couch and grabbed his food, sitting down at the table and watching her clean up before eating her own plate.

He cleared his throat. “Sasuke. I overreacted. I won’t make you tell Tsunade anything.”

Sasuke was still angry but she answered him. “I had a bad mission. We failed in our purpose to kill Orochimaru. So I might be a bit sensitive.” She took a bite of rice and broccoli.

Naruto suppressed his exclaim of surprise. “I had no idea. He’s a very tough opponent. Is everyone alright?”

“Anko is in the hospital, she’s been induced in a coma.”

“I’m so sorry Sasuke, I know you’re close with her.”

“Hn.”

Naruto shuffled the food around on his plate, watching as a piece of broccoli grew soggy sitting in the sauce.

“We fought a clone of Itachi along the way.”

Sasuke clenched her fork. “I see.”

She let the silence linger and then cleared her throat. “What did he say?”

Naruto regaled her with his experience in his genjutsu, telling him of his failures, how he would never be accepted by the village, or loved.

“Did he mention me at all?” Sasuke asked quietly. _Why do I care?_

“He did, briefly. You were one of my failures. I couldn’t protect you from him when he first tried to kidnap me. I’ll always remember that, seeing you hooked up to a machine to live.” He lowered his voice, “You were so fragile, I wanted to believe it would work out but there was a part of me that thought you’d never wake up.”

Sasuke nodded sympathetically.

“I remember that time, but there was nothing either of us could have done. I never wanted to feel that weak again.” In that instant, Sasuke made up her mind. _Anything to get stronger._

“Naruto. Thank you. You reminded me I have to keep getting stronger. You’re a good friend.”

“Eh? Really? All I did was talk about being a failure.” Sasuke laughed at his bewildered look.

“Sometimes that’s all it takes.” She scarfed down the rest of her food. “It’s late did you want to stay the night?”

Naruto’s eyes jolted up at her. “Stay the night? Is that appropriate?”

She shrugged. “Who cares. We don’t have anyone around to scold us if it’s not. Besides we aren’t going to do anything untoward.”

“I guess not. Yeah, I’ll stay the night. I’ve never had a sleepover before.” He rubbed the back of his head shyly.

“Hmm. It’s been quite a while for me, but it’s pretty self-explanatory.” She teased him.

She grabbed a spare set of sheets and made him a bed on the couch.

They stayed up til late in the morning watching horror movies and eating junk food after a quick convenience store shopping trip.

She glanced at the clock. _It’s so late!_

Sasuke gave him a playful punch to the arm before wishing him goodnight. 

“Goodnight Sasuke. I’m glad you’re back safely.” He said with sincerity.

“I’m glad you’re back too, Naruto.” She stared at him a few seconds longer before asking him a whisper, “Are you still willing to help me with revenge? Against Itachi?”

He straightened up and said with determination, “Absolutely. I would go to the ends of the earth for you Sasuke, believe it.”

He surprised himself even, with his intensity but he meant it.

"Thank you, Naruto. You're a good friend." Sasuke pulled him in quickly for a hug and let him go as a shock ran through her body. "Goodnight!" She yelled as she shut the door behind her, her cheeks hot. 

She crawled into bed and slept soundly that night.

* * *

Sasuke jumped across the rooftops and landed gracefully in front of the front entrance. She waltzed inside and saw the elderly man waiting for her.

“Danzo. I accept your offer. I’ll join your organization.” She attempted to look neutral, hoping he wouldn’t see her anxiety at this moment.

He simply nodded. “Good. I had hoped you would say that. I will inform Lady Tsunade. Fu here will get you a uniform and tell you about team structure.” With that, Danzo hobbled away. Sasuke briefly wondered how a shinobi so feeble was able to command such loyalty and fear amongst his men but she pushed that thought away. She could let her mind wander later, now she had to learn.

Fu took her measurements and sent away for a uniform. “You can expect it to be dropped off tomorrow. They are custom made to adhere to your body.”

Sasuke nodded.

Then he led her to a locker room and showed her where she could stash her items, if she chose. “There aren’t too many other kunoichi in this organization so you will likely have this area to yourself.” He paused and scratched his chin, “well, sometimes Tohru is here but she’s been out on a mission for a few months.”

Sasuke didn’t know or care who this person was but nodded politely anyways. _This guy is chatty for a high level shinobi. He reminds me of Ino somehow._

She let him yammer away as he handed her scrolls of formations to memorize and jutsu to be aware of that she would encounter from other nations clans.

She let herself get excited. _Finally, I get to learn something interesting._

“But most importantly, just follow what Danzo says and you’ll be fine.” He looked at her sternly.

“Understood.”

“Good. Now let’s get you in the sparring ring and see what you’ve got.” He grinned and winked at her.

* * *

Sasuke groaned and rolled over gently in her bed.

She hadn’t been rough housed like that since her month-long training session with Kakashi before the chunin exams.

She smirked to herself. _But I can feel myself getting stronger already._

She pulled on her pants, grateful that she had forced herself to shower before going to bed last night. The thought of doing more movement than necessary made her cringe. She grabbed a sweater, not the best choice for late summer but it covered up her bruises, and yanked it over her head. Fu had not gone easy on her.

He caught her at the last minute with a mind transfer before she could get him with her genjutsu.

“You’re a Yamanaka? You don’t look like one of them.” She blurt out before she could stop herself.

He laughed. “Yeah, the orange hair certainly makes me a black sheep that’s for sure. I wonder if that’s why they sold me to Danzo?” He joked mirthlessly.

He seemed to catch himself and added, “I’m kidding of course. I love it here.”

Sasuke hadn’t dwelled on it, she knew Danzo was a shady man.

She summoned two of her snakes and sent them with a message. “Find Naruto and Sakura and bring them here.”

The slithered away and Sasuke sat back.

15 minutes later, she heard the first knock at her door. It was Sakura.

“Sakura, please come in. I have some news to share but let’s wait for Naruto to arrive.”

Sakura stepped in and took off her shoes. “You seem to be waddling a little, is everything okay? I know you didn’t get hurt during your last mission but sometimes you don’t even realize it until a few days later and-“

Sasuke cut her off, “I’m fine, just sore from training.” She smiled warmly at her friend, watching as the worry lines melted away.

“If you say so. I can still help with sore muscles if you’d like.”

“That would be great, I can barely move.”

Sakura sat her down on the couch and plopped down beside her. She ran her hands over her muscles in a smooth fluid motion soothing the pain away.

“Is there anything medical ninjutsu can’t do?” Sasuke asked dreamily.

Sakura laughed, “This is just a good old fashioned massage girl, but I’m glad you like it.”

Sasuke blushed.

A knock at the door interrupted them and Sakura went to let Naruto in.

He made himself at home and jumped into a chair by the television set.

“So what’s the good news?” He asked casually. “Or did you just miss me already?” He joked, knowing that he had spent the night just a day before.

Sasuke was starting to feel anxious. “Well, it may not be good news per se. It’s good for me and my training development but…” She stopped.

“I joined ANBU, or an organization within ANBU. I can’t talk about it but it means that team 7 can’t officially be reinstated, which I know we were all looking forward to once Naruto came back.” She hung her head and felt tears prick at her eyes.

_Don’t get so emotional._

She looked back up at their disappointed faces. Sakura spoke first. “Sasuke, it’s not ideal of course but I understand. We already went off to do our own things. Me with medical training and Naruto with Jiraiya. It would be selfish to hold you back now that you have an opportunity.”

“Sakura’s right. I’m upset we won’t get to see you, but I understand. This sounds like it could be good for you.”

Sasuke felt the corners of her mouth curl up.

“Thank you both. Really. Please don’t tell Kakashi before I get to him. He warned me against taking a position in ANBU, but I think it’s what’s best for me.” _And best for getting information._

That bit of information made her teammates tense up. They exchanged glances, they trusted Kakashi’s opinion on the matter and if he advised against it…

“Hey, let’s go out for lunch huh? I’m feeling a lot better since Sakura’s massage and I think I can move around a bit more. What do you say?” Sasuke interrupted their thoughts, sensing discontent.

“Yes! But only if it isn’t Ichiraku’s for once!” Sakura shouted.

“Whoa, I missed a massage session with two beautiful ladies?” Sakura threw a pencil at Naruto.

“Pervert! Spending three years with that Pervy sage really messed you up.”

“Aw I was just joking Sakura.” He said with a blush.

“Yeah right!”

Sasuke smiled at their antics and went to slip her shoes on. “I know it’s still a while before lunch but maybe we can walk around the river a bit, I haven’t hung out with you two in a while.”

“That sounds great, let’s go!” Naruto was up in a flash.

“Yeah, yeah. But as your unofficial nurse I would recommend _not_ overdoing it Sasuke or you’ll just make it worse later.”

Sasuke waved away her worries and walked out the door, hands in pocket.

_I really do miss these knuckleheads._

* * *

Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief as he left the hospital. _I won’t miss this place at all._

He still had a week of bedrest, per the doctor’s orders, and he was looking forward to rereading the newest installment of the make out series without the near constant interruption of nurses and well-wishers.

He turned the corner intending to head to his house, a place few people knew about and therefore would not be easily disturbed.

He bit back a groan as he felt a familiar presence and stopped in his tracks. “Tenzo, it’s been a while.”

The man sighed. “It’s Yamato for now. I’ve been working outside of ANBU for a few missions and that’s what they call me.”

“Come to see me off? I appreciate your concern but I’m doing just fine.” Kakashi joked.

Yamato chuckled. “I did want to make sure you’re doing well, captain.” He smirked seeing the man cringe at the formality. “I also wanted to let you know that Danzo made a formal request to Tsunade to reallocate Sasuke into his faction of ANBU. Apparently both women have accepted his request. I know you’re fond of her, so I figured you’d want a heads up.” He waited for his reaction.

“I see.” Was all he said.

“I’m surprised. I thought you would have been more, concerned perhaps? You know what Danzo’s like and she’ll be working right alongside him.”

“I warned her about him and she chose not to listen. All I can do now is wait for her to come to her senses and hope there’s something recoverable of her personality at the end of it.”

Yamato nodded silently. “I suppose you’re right. She’s old enough to make her own decisions. I guess I’m glad you can see that.”

The two men walked pensively together. “Yamato. You feel like getting ramen?”

“Ramen? Sure, I didn’t think that food was your type of thing.”

“It’s grown on me.”

* * *

Sakura had to leave first, she had a shift at the hospital. “Sorry guys, I’m just so busy these days. We lost a group of med-nin in a mission six months ago and it’s been crazy playing catch up since. A new cohort of students should be joining us soon though, at least.” She apologized and ran off.

Her companions didn’t mind, they understood she had responsibilities.

“She’s going to be running that hospital one day, I just know it.” Sasuke said watching her friend run off.

“Believe it! Sakura has been working so hard lately.” Naruto yelled in encouragement.

Sasuke grabbed her box of leftovers and the two went to pay. “Let me cover this Sasuke, I missed your birthday so think of this as a make-up.” He smiled at her.

“Oh, right. I forgot about my birthday. There’s been so much else going on.”

“No way! That’s unacceptable, turning 16 only happens once ya know.” Naruto mock scolded her.

“Hn. I guess we’ll just have to celebrate yours extra hard to make up for it.” She teased back.

“I think you’re right. Maybe a nice hot spring get together where we can all relax and decompress, play some video games afterwards.” He stared off wistfully.

“Hmmm. That does sound nice. Let’s plan on making it happen. I’ll take some vacation days and so can you and we can have a sleepover or something. It’ll be like we’re kids again.” She laughed, knowing it would take nothing short of a miracle to plan that out.

Naruto stared at her profile, smiling to himself. _When did she get so beautiful? No, she was always like this, she just never opened up as much._ He felt the stinging heat of a blush creep over his cheeks. _Don’t think like that! You like Sakura, the firecracker!_

“Hm? You okay, your face is kind of red.” Sasuke raised her eyebrow at him.

“Oh! I’m fine.” His heart raced.

 _That look, does Naruto have a crush on me? No way, you’re reading into it._ Sasuke felt her own cheeks heat up. “Okay.”

The two stood there in awkward silence. “I should get going. I was going to train today. You’re welcome to join me Sasuke, but you’re starting to waddle a little.”

“I overdid it, I’ll just head home and rest. It was nice hanging out though.”

“Yeah. Let’s not wait so long to do this again, okay?”

“Okay.” They smiled at each other and parted ways.

Sasuke was losing energy, fast. But she still had one more stop to make. She was closest to his house, so she tried there first.

She knocked on the door and heard no response. _Odd, I would have thought he wanted to be alone in his private sanctuary after leaving the hospital._

She walked down his driveway and in the direction of his apartment. _He really should just ditch the apartment, who needs so many living places anyways? He’s just a bachelor._

She rounded the corner and bumped into a man wearing a big burly green coat.

She fell back on her bottom, her legs weakened from training the day before.

“Oh sorry about that! But you really should watch where you’re going.” The man laughed at her.

She stared up at the face above her. _He looks so familiar and that chakra, I can’t quite place it._

She must have been staring longer than she realized because the man extended his hand and lifted her up saying, “Hey, I remember you. I tried to help you get a photograph of Kakashi’s face!”

_Oh! That must be it._

Sasuke answered, “Oh, yes. It’s Sukea, right? I thought you looked familiar. What are you doing here?”

“Tsk. So rude, can’t a photographer travel in peace?”

“I guess so, I haven’t seen you around in a while.”

“Were you looking?” He asked inquisitively.

“No.” She deadpanned back at him.

He chuckled. “I’m here to document the village’s travel spots. Write up a good article and whatnot, try to drum up tourism.”

“Hm. There’s not a lot here, that will be tough.” _Seems questionable at best._

“You’re so dour. There’s a number of hot springs and good restaurants nearby.”

“I guess.” Sasuke found herself staring at his face _there’s just **something** there I can’t place it yet, but he seems so familiar. _

He stared uneasily back at her.

Just then Kakashi rounded the corner. “Oh, what a surprise Sasuke. Who’s your friend?”

She scowled. “Some photographer. I was looking for you.”

“So cold.” Sukea responded.

“She’s like that.” Kakashi nodded sympathetically.

“It’s kind of important.” Sasuke said impatiently.

“Well, good luck with your photography. Sasuke, please come in.” He gestured toward his house and she led the way.

She missed the quick look Sukea threw around before flickering towards the house while Kakashi disappeared in a _poof_.

She reached the door and turned impatiently waiting for Kakashi to catch up, to her surprise he opened the front door.

“How did you get here so fast?” She demanded.

“I am a talented man.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Now. To what do I owe the pleasure? First you come see me in the hospital, now you’re making house visits. You must really care for your dear old sensei.”

She ignored him and let herself inside.

“Oh. I get it.” He nodded his head thoughtfully. “You know it’s quite common for students to have a crush on their sensei, especially one as charming as me. I’m flattered really, but entirely too old for y-“ he was interrupted by a punch to the gut.

Sasuke glared at him. “Not even in the slightest you old coot.”

He sighed. “I get no respect.”

She sat down on a cushy chair and turned toward him. “I’m joining ANBU under Danzo.” She told him.

He took in a deep breath. “Yes. I heard that was the case.”

“Are you mad at me?” She hadn’t realized she was afraid of his disapproval until she got here. Now she waited for his response.

“I’m not mad.” He sighed and plopped down across from her on his couch. “I never intended to be your replacement father, but maybe I’ve been trying to act like one. I know I never appreciated having some man come step in and try to take his place when my father passed. I only hoped to guide you like my sensei did with me.” He folded his hands in his lap.

Sasuke stared at him intently.

“That’s not to say I don’t love you.” She looked away. “Because I do. I love you and Naruto so much, like you’re part of my family.” He briefly realized he forgot Sakura but figured if he added her in now, it would make the rest of his statement seem disingenuous.

“That’s why I give you my input and advice, but it’s your choice what to do with your life.”

“I really struggled making my decision. I do care about what you have to say.” She crossed her ankles and looked at her toes wiggling in her sandals. _I hope he doesn’t mind I tracked my dirty shoes in._

“But, you decided against listening to me. It’s fine.” He waved his hand carefreely.

Sasuke looked at him. “I think it’s the only way I can get stronger. I’ve been stagnant lately and having my first training session yesterday I already know I’m going to improve. It’s what I need.”

“I understand.” He got up and ruffled her hair. “I’ll be here no matter what happens. If you need an out, I can help with that too. I think you’ll do great though.” He paused, “But, don’t trust Danzo. He’s sneaky.” His lone eye looked at her with intensity.

“I won’t.” She stared back, trying to persuade him.

He let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Now, if you don’t mind. Please leave. I just got out of the hospital and have had an exhausting day already.”

Sasuke nodded and walked away.

Kakashi slunk down on his chair. _These kids are a handful._

* * *

The rest of summer quickly passed. Sasuke kept training until Danzo felt she was ready to go on missions and then she was assigned to a team. Slowly she began to take on missions of the utmost secrecy.

When her schedule allowed, she would meet with Sakura, and Ino, and Naruto.

Anko was taken out of her coma a few weeks after their mission and was mostly recuperated, although her ego was bruised.

Yamato slowly began leading missions in Kakashi’s stead, keeping a watchful eye over Naruto and the nine-tails.

But, Sasuke would need to be replaced.

Danzo and his handiwork manipulating the village elders landed in Sai joining team 7 on a mission deep within the borders of the land of fire.

After a few quips about Naruto’s dick, or lack thereof, Yamato stopped the group. _These kids are going to be the death of me._

“It doesn’t do well to keep fighting with each other please, try to behave.”

Sai smiled at him. “Of course, captain.”

Sakura grumbled out, “I suppose we can try.”

Sai looked around, fake smile still plastered on his face. “I worked with your team member, Sasuke.” He watched the expression of their faces change. “Let’s hope you’re all not as useless as her, although looking now I doubt it.” Naruto pounced at him, but Sakura held her arm out, eliciting a soft sigh of relief from Yamato which he quickly retracted.

Sakura punched Sai square in the face and sent him flying, a dark aura coming over her. “Shut up.” Her eyes glared up at him. “You can make your quips about me, even about Naruto for all I care but you leave Sasuke out of this.”

Her silent threat permeated the air.

Yamato pinched the bridge of his nose. “Listen up. We are here to investigate a very serious matter of grave robbing. The monks have requested our help. They don’t want to see a group of squabbling teenagers. Do I make myself clear?” His threatening demeanor shocked the three teens into silence.

Naruto was the first to speak. “Yeah, but it doesn’t mean I have to like him.”

_Why are these kids so difficult?_

Yamato sighed and resumed walking. _Captain Kakashi, what would you do?_

* * *

The mission was over before the enemy shinobi knew what had hit them. Sasuke almost felt bad for them, there was no way any of them could have expected to counteract an Uchiha genjutsu. Not at their level.

When they were asleep in their fantasy, Sasuke came by and slit their throats. She pilfered through their pockets and found the scroll.

_Easy._

_Now on to my real mission._

She flickered backwards and looked up at the moon. It would be daytime in a few hours.

This was her first solo mission under Danzo’s leadership. She had been tasked with killing a group of adversary shinobi and stealing their scroll. What the scroll contained or why Danzo wanted it, Sasuke didn’t know.

All she cared about in this moment was that her mission landed her in the heart of the land of Rivers. She closed her eyes and remembered Orochimaru’s words.

She bounded off eastward, towards the hideout.

In two short hours she arrived.

Sasuke found the entrance, covered with vines and moss. She brushed them aside and entered.

Sasuke crept along the hall, dark and foreboding.

She silently cursed herself for having such a strict adherence to secrecy. _If I die down here, no one will ever find me. I should have told Naruto about this. But he never would've let me go here_. 

A silent voice in her head told her that he would've been right. 

_What am I doing?_

Despite her misgivings, she arrived at the door Orochimaru specified and formed the hand signs. A low _click_ echoed in the hallways and it creaked open. 

With a gulp, Sasuke entered the room and was immediately assaulted by a haze of dust, swept up by her movement. 

She coughed, clearing the dust out of her throat and looked around. 

It was dark and all around unassuming.

Sasuke wasn’t sure what she expected but a normal looking, albeit abandoned, office wasn’t it. 

She ran her finger along the large wooden desk pushed against the corner of the wall. 

_Disgusting_. 

She started pulling open desk drawers and reading bits of paper. 

She used her sharingan to memorize the words and carefully stacked the read papers and files back where she found them. She wasn’t sure why, but she wanted to hide her tracks, keep it secret that she had been here.

She figured that Orochimaru would know, somehow. He likely had the place boobie trapped and knew she was there right now.

That was a thought that made her shudder. 

She kept her guard up and continued to read through the massive stack of papers. 

It was beginning to get unbearably hot. Her new ANBU uniform was tight to her skin, which may have been practical, but was causing her to sweat and overheat in the damp dark room. 

Sasuke blew the baby bangs out of her face but they just stuck to her forehead in a sweaty clump. 

_Of course._

She speed read through the documents, skimming for buzzwords.

They were filled with medical jargon. Talks of cellular implantation and limbs. So far, she could not find anything about her clan. 

She was starting to feel embarrassed.

_Did I just let myself get manipulated by Orochimaru?_

She continued to read through, starting to feel more and more like she'd been lied to.

_I should have expected this. I'm an idiot._

She held back a very undignified whine. _Uchiha’s do not whine._

If she didn't leave soon, she wouldn't be back to Konoha in a timely manner.

She had realized that Danzo was quite strict with their time and seeing as she was still new, he would likely note every second of her movements.

She would have to race back to Konoha, or make up a story about being laid up on the return trip, but he likely wouldn’t believe that.

Finally a buzzword stuck out to her. _Uchiha Shisui._

_My cousin?_

She read the document top to bottom.

She read the next page.

And the next.

And the next.

Sasuke gasped in horror as she started to piece the truth together.

Danzo had recruited Orochimaru to implant sharingan into his arm that was made out of cells from the first Hokage.

How was any of this possible?

What did this mean?

Did Danzo simply take advantage of the massacre or was there something more insidious to it?

Sasuke didn’t know.

_He took my cousin’s eye._

She stood back up shakily and threw up.

Either way, she was on the right track.

There was more to the massacre than she initially thought, and she could add another name to her list.

She grabbed all the papers that she could find and summoned a snake of human size. “Hold on to these, I will summon you in a few hours and I expect to have every single piece of paper there. Understand?”

The snake looked in her eyes and nodded, opened his mouth, and allowed the stacks to be placed gently inside. He disappeared with a _poof._

_Danzo Shimura, I don’t know what role you played, if any, but you will pay for pilfering the eyes from my dead clansmen._

* * *

Two countries northwest of where Sasuke currently was, Itachi felt a chill run through him. _Where is this sense of dread coming from?_

He looked up at the sky and the open expanse of blue was slowly starting to turn grey.

“Looks like it’ll rain.” Kisame remarked emotionlessly next to him.

Itachi stood silent, staring up at the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Naruto and Sasuke are not very good at understanding their feelings. They're too focused on their own goals of becoming Hokage and getting revenge that they can't appreciate what they could have right in front of them.   
> Also, Sasuke is right on the verge of understanding that she has aligned herself with an absolute monster in Danzo.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke's a little less hot headed here than in the anime but she still is obsessive in her quest for revenge. Knowing at least the partial truth about Danzo has reignited her desire more than anything else. However, she never went to train with Orochimaru and so never used drugs to enhance her fighting abilities. She has a lot of hard work to do if she wants to be anywhere near Danzo's level. She's also so incredibly dumb at love. Instead of building up power alongside Naruto, she is avoiding him becuause she refuses to deal with her feelings.

Sasuke struggled with the secret knowledge she had just found out about Danzo.

After debriefing him about her mission, under carefully concealed emotions, she raced back to her apartment careful to sense for any potential tails that might be following her.

She locked herself in her room and closed the blinds, blocking the windows and any prying eyes.

She let out a long stream of air she had been holding in.

She summoned the snake and carefully removed the documents detailing her clan’s gruesome fate.

_What to do?_

She created a summoning scroll and attached the documents to it. Turning back to her summoned snake she directed it, “Take these back to your world and hide them in a dry place. If I need to, I will summon these back to me with this.” She waved her scroll. “Make sure the others know not to disturb them.”

He nodded in understanding and disappeared.

_What a mess._

Sasuke hadn’t thought about her mother in a while.

Not really. She missed her everyday just like she missed her father, and her cousin, and every auntie and uncle that had perished that night.

But she hadn’t thought about her soft hands brushing her hair after a long day at the academy, whispering encouraging phrases, and praising her for good report cards.

She hadn’t thought of her soft kind voice twinkling as she read a bedtime story, or sang a song, or gossiped about husbands with the neighbor women.

She hadn’t thought of her comforting embrace and words of wisdom as Sasuke ran into troubles.

In this moment, Sasuke wanted nothing more in the world than to hear her mother one more time, to feel her embrace once more and comfort her as she struggled with the depth of the knowledge she had uncovered.

She felt the tear drip off her face and land on her clenched fist before she even realized she was crying.

_Dammit. I’m weak. What have I been doing this whole time? There are enemies in this village and I’ve let them live right underneath my nose._

She took a shaky breath in. _No. It’s time to get serious. I won’t let the memory of my mother fade away. One way or another I will take down Itachi and Danzo._

Her sharingan swirled dangerously as she began to plot her revenge.

* * *

Her mind had not quieted down in the days since learning about Danzo. She had taken to daily meditation to settle her emotions, but it was to no avail. 

Realistically she knew she could not take down Danzo. Not at her level, and not with Shisui’s eye implanted in him. 

She could barely hold her own against Fu. 

But she could not stand seeing his face almost every day calmly reciting jutsu and village secrets to her in the confines of his office, revealing the Uchiha clans forbidden jutsu to her that would otherwise be lost to time. 

He took time to watch her and show her the worst of her faults and weaknesses so that she would improve.

He would praise her when she did well and reprimand her if she slacked.

It was sickeningly intimate.

It infuriated her.

She learned of the Izanami and Izanagi, the balance between ultimate power and a beautiful testament of the depth of knowledge of her ancestors. 

_My parents should have been the one revealing this to me not some vulture of our misfortune._

She wondered if he ever felt guilty over his pilfer of her clansmen. 

She wondered if he had helped Itachi. 

He was, after all, the leader of ANBU. It’s not hard to believe he would have been close to Itachi at some point. It seemed reasonable that he could have directly or indirectly helped in slaughtering her clan members.

But that was all speculation. Her mind waffled between numerous scenarios of what he did or didn’t do to her family.

Sasuke huffed, watching her breath freeze in the air and twirl away. _Everything is getting so complicated._

“Sasukeeee! Its cold hurry up!” Tenten’s voice whined at her. 

The rest of the girls had made their way inside the cottage and were waiting expectantly for her to catch up so that Tenten would shut the door.

She bounded forward so that her companions would not be able to continue complaining. 

“I can’t believe there’s such a cute little spot here in Konoha and none of us knew about it.” Ino put her hands on her hips and looked around.

It had been a surprise to Sasuke when she went for lunch with team 7 one afternoon and Kakashi had arrived, newspaper in hand.

“Your friend seemed to write up quite the informative piece on Konoha vacations.” He handed her the paper.

Sasuke had looked puzzled until she read the name at the top of the article. Sukea.

She rolled her eyes, but Sakura had been thrilled to find a cottage for rent on the outskirts of town nestled right next to a secluded hot spring.

After bribing Tsunade with Sake, the girls of the Konoha 12 had gotten the night off.

Sasuke hadn’t bothered to ask Danzo, but he seemed to always have a read on where she was when she was in the village, sending a fellow ROOT ANBU member to pick her up at the most inconvenient of times.

If he had a problem with her going, he would let her know.

Ino and Sakura had immediately called dibs on the king bed in the master bedroom. Sakura sent an apologetic glance at Sasuke, who was left roommate-less.

_Oh well. I can still claim the single occupancy room upstairs._

“I call dibs on the upstairs room!” Tenten shouted and quickly ran up the flight of stairs to stake her claim on the loft.

That left Hinata and Sasuke standing there awkwardly.

“S. Sa. Sasuke.” Hinata stuttered out. “I don’t mind sharing the queen bed with you on the main floor, but if you’re more comfortable with it I can sleep on the couch.”

Sasuke screwed her eyes shut. She knew that if she took Hinata up on that offer the rest of the girls would give her hell over the weekend.

“No. It’s fine. Stay with me.” She grumbled out.

Hinata flinched at her cold tone but hurriedly moved to put her pack in their shared room.

_I can’t catch a break._

* * *

The girls had unpacked and decided to visit the hot springs before making themselves supper.

Sasuke had quite enjoyed the peaceful walk up the trail to the hot spring even with the cool air surrounding them.

She dipped a toe in. _A perfect temperature._

“Ehh? Hinata are you serious? How massive are those things?” Sakura’s eye nearly popped out of her head.

Sakura tried not to have a complex about such trivial things _I’m a renowned medic thank you very much_ but Ino’s snide teasing over her boyish figure throughout the years had given her some insecurities.

“Wh- what do you mean Sakura. I can’t help it.” The shy girl yelled out in mortification. She really couldn’t help it. Her breasts often got in the way of missions and frequently gave her back pain. They were not helpful for the rapid movement and twirling associated with the gentle fist.

Ino chimed in with a quip about Sakura’s much smaller attributes and Sakura fired back at Ino over some feature that she had an insecurity about.

Tenten ignored them all and slipped into the hot spring.

Sasuke followed suit and tuned out the fighting noises.

_They make good white noise._

Sasuke was glad for the distraction although it caused her mind to wander towards unsavory places.

She knew there was no way she could make a move with the limited information that she had.

_Until Danzo is alone, I will not be able to take my revenge._

Part of her warned that she wouldn't know fully _how_ she should be taking her revenge until she had more information. Information that seemed almost impossible to get without revealing her true depth of knowledge.

_I can’t just stroll up and ask Itachi. Or even Danzo for that matter. I don’t think I’d trust what either of them had to say anyways. Orochimaru seems like he revealed the extent of what he knows too._

If Danzo played a sinister role, he deserved pain and lots of it.

If he was simply a ravenous vulture preying on the remains of her clansmen and family, his death could be swift and just. 

If-

“Saaasuke. Hellooo?” Ino sing-songed at her. “Earth to Sasuke? Are you in there?” She waved her hands in front of the girl’s face.

“Oh.” Sasuke blinked a few times. “Sorry. I was distracted. What did you say?”

The girls groaned collectively.

“We are trying to get some steamy gossip going, but that’s hard to do when you keep dropping out of the conversation.” Ino reprimanded her.

“I was thinking about,” She shifted her eyes slightly, “work.” Fortunately, none of the girls seemed to notice.

Sakura was still looking forlornly at Hinata, who was embarrassedly trying to push her floating breasts down below the water’s surface.

Ino just rolled her eyes and readjusted her bun atop her head.

Tenten had her eyes closed and was sipping on a mock mimosa. Although, from her relaxed posture, Sasuke was beginning to think it might be the real thing.

“No work talk allowed! We’re here to hear all about everyone’s love life and complain about our team members. Nothing else. Got it?” Ino ferociously set the ground rules.

No one dared to question her dubious ground rules, but no one truly minded the superficial distraction from their daily life-threatening work.

“Good.” Ino relaxed into the water. “Now. It’s time to talk about boys.”

Hinata blushed furiously and Tenten groaned.

“Seriously? Can’t we have a girl’s night out without bringing up the boys? There’s so many other things to talk about.” Tenten whined.

“Absolutely not. It’s our duty to not take things to seriously while we’re all on vacation. So, onto normal teenage girl topics!” Ino shook her head and sat up straighter in the water. “I’ll go first.” She put her finger on her chin and closed her eyes, deep in thought.

“I have always had a crush on Sasuke.” She paused and winked at her. “Aaand I think that Sakura’s new teammate Sai is super sexy.”

“Eh?” Sasuke blinked a few times. “You have a crush on me?”

Ino chuckled. “Of course. Don’t worry, I’m not taking advantage of the hot springs to check you out. I’m nothing if not a lady.” She purred flirtatiously.

“Oh, Ino I never knew you liked girls.” Tenten asked inquisitively. 

“Yeah. I’m bisexual. I finally figured that out about myself. Sorry if this was too casual of a way to come out!” She laughed and rubber her neck nervously. 

“No, it was perfectly fine Ino. I’m proud of you.” Sakura said warmly, gazing at her childhood friend.

“Don’t worry about sharing a bed with me forehead, you’re too scrawny for my tastes.” 

Sakura’s eyebrow twitched. “Gee thanks Ino you really know how to flatter people.”

“Hehe. Kidding.” Ino flashed her the peace sign and blew a kiss her way.

“I’m glad you could be honest with us Ino.” Sasuke nodded, enjoying the feel of the steam rising up and clearing out her pores.

_This might have been exactly what I needed._

Sakura had her eyes closed deep in thought. Tenten looked over at her, “Why are you so caught up in this? Everyone knows you like Lee.”

“That’s not true!” She said, her cheeks a furious shade of red.

Sakura could nearly hear the eyeroll of her friends. “Okay fine! I think he has a good personality and if he took the time to actually dress nice, I would give him a chance. There, are you all happy?”

“Yes. It’s nice you can finally admit that.” Sasuke pestered her.

“I think we all know who Hinata is going to say.” Ino grinned at her.

“Huh? What do you mean? I don’t like anyone.” She squeaked out and pushed her pointer fingers together.

“Oh really? Not even Naruto?” Sakura slyly teased.

Hinata screwed her eyes shut. “Is it really that obvious?”

Sasuke nearly vomited. _Of course, it’s obvious_

Tenten sighed and Ino and Sakura laughed.

“You bake for him all the time and follow him around the training grounds it’s not hard to see. Well, I guess for him it is.” Sakura sighed.

“You have to be more confident! He’d be crazy not to go for a girl like you. You’re so patient, you’d definitely be the only one to put up with his antics that’s for sure.” Ino crossed her arms and nodded confidently. “Plus, you’re gorgeous. He has to at least notice that.”

Sasuke unconsciously looked down at her breasts. She sniffled. _Not like Hinata’s but they’re nice, right?_

She rarely felt self-conscious about her physical appearance. She had been hit on since childhood, so she knew that her appearance was desirable.

Still, she had seen Naruto’s sexy jutsu multiple times and she couldn’t help but feel like his transformation was a reflection of what he liked to see. And apparently what he liked to see was massive boobs.

She held back a whine and sunk a little deeper in the water. _Personality has to count for something right?_

“What about you Sasuke? I know you aren’t as asexual as you like to pretend.” Ino asked.

“What makes you think I have time to like boys? I’m focused on being a kunoichi and climbing the ranks.” _And killing everyone who had a hand in my clan’s demise._

“Come on, you’re already a jonin. What’s left? You already told me you have no desire to be Hokage.” Sakura said exasperatedly.

“Yeah, don’t you want to have a family. Kids? Repopulate your clan?” Ino asked her.

Sasuke held back a wince. “That’s a… sensitive topic.” She thought a moment longer. “I do know that one day I will have to have a child and family. I owe it to _my_ family to continue our lineage. It’s just, I don’t see how that’s possible for me. There’s no way I’d want to take some man’s last name.”

“Well, find a modern man who’s open to taking your family name. It’s a very prestigious one, I’m sure you wouldn’t have trouble.” Tenten shrugged her shoulders casually.

“I suppose you’re right.” Sasuke hummed in thought. A moment of silence passed by.

“Oh no. You aren’t out of this yet. Who do you have a crush on?” Ino pushed her.

Sasuke thought about the pang of jealousy that ran through her when Hinata talked about Naruto.

_Stop. Don’t even go there. Make something up._

“Well, it’s a little embarrassing since Hinata and Tenten are here but… I did have feelings for Neji for a long time but I’m over it now.” 

She looked pointedly at Ino as she continued, “And I made out with that blonde bombshell from Suna that Shikamaru is always fawning over.”

“Ahh! I knew it!” Ino shouted and clapped her hands.

“Neji? That’s an interesting choice. What made you stop liking him?” Sakura asked. _Two insufferable geniuses, that would end well._

“Oh, I just grew out of it. I realized we wouldn’t be that compatible in reality.” Sasuke blushed.

“Brother Neji is a wonderful person and very strong. I wish it was more acceptable for side branch members to marry out of the family but we’re very strict about who inherits the Byakugan. I wish it were different.” Hinata murmured.

There was awkward silence amongst the girls. 

“So would you even be allowed to have a relationship with Naruto?” Sasuke asked.

Hinata fidgeted uncomfortably. “I would have more leeway to do so, as long as my father approved and Naruto agreed that if our children inherited the Byakugan they would be taught the Gentle Fist.”

Sakura spoke gently, “Maybe one day things will be different.”

_Maybe one day Konoha will take a stance against slavery._ Sasuke thought bitterly. 

“Okay Tenten. You’re next. Who do you like?” Sasuke changed the subject. Tenten flashed her an unamused glare. _If I had to suffer through this, so do you._ Sasuke communicated through her eyes.

“Hmmm. I’m not interested in anyone.” 

“That’s a lie. I see it in your eyes.” Sakura accused.

“Fine! I like Neji too! He’s strong and smart and a caring teammate. Are you happy?” She grumbled and sunk low in the water. “And now I know that any kind of future with him is impossible. So let’s just drop it.” The rest of the girls were silent. 

Slowly, pockets of conversation returned to the small group and Sasuke resumed her obsessive thoughts about Danzo.

_There has to be some way of finding out the truth about him. I need to know what role he had in my clan’s death and why._

_There has to be someway of finding that out._

_There just has to be._

The sun was beginning to set in the sky so Hinata suggested that they all head back and make supper.

It was a carefree event, being all together.

Tenten sharpened the woefully dull kitchen knives provided by the rental company. Hinata made dessert. Sakura attempted to make the entrée and was getting nitpicked by Ino as she added the ingredients. Sasuke was heating up oil for deep frying their appetizers.

In time, the meal was completed.

“Let’s go around the table and say what we’re grateful for in each person. I’ll start.” Ino wiggled in her chair and started thoughtfully, “I am grateful for Sakura’s unending friendship. I am grateful for Tenten’s down to earth approach to life and the advice she gives. I am grateful for Sasuke always being there for me and letting me vent out my problems, even if she doesn’t always seem like she’s listening.” She sent a sideways glance at her which Sasuke ignored. “Last, but certainly not least, I am grateful for Hinata’s kind and gentle friendship and delicious cinnamon buns.”

Sasuke hated the mushy emotional state of things and sat in quiet dread as the girls all went around the table and professed their love for each other.

Finally, it was her turn. “Uh. I’m grateful for Ino’s hair and makeup advice, Sakura’s never-ending patience in healing me when I do stupid things, Tenten’s weapon expertise and how she always knows which wires conduct fire the best, and um I’m grateful for Hinata’s…” She stopped. Her mind suddenly went blank.

_I can’t remember a single thing about her personality!_ She started to sweat under the gaze of the other girls stares.

_Why can’t I even remember what the others said about her? I could at least try and copy one of their compliments._

“I’m grateful for Hinata’s delicious zenzai, typically I don’t enjoy sweets.” She looked down at her plate and scraped her food around.

There was a pronounced pause in the festive atmosphere.

Ino quickly dissolved the tense air with an amusing tale about trying out the mind transfer jutsu on Choji and making him pee his pants in the process, the girls erupted in laughter.

Sasuke avoided eye contact with Hinata the rest of dinner.

After eating, they settled into the living room to watch a movie. Tenten got to pick and so they ended up watching a sports movie packed with action.

“Hmmm. It’s been such a long day. I’m going to get ready for bed.” Sakura said, yawning in the process.

“That’s fine by me. If I stay up too late, I’ll get eye bags.” Ino said, prodding beneath her eyes.

“Fine by me.” Tenten said shrugging.

The girls all headed to their respective rooms.

Hinata and Sasuke walked to their shared bedroom and started getting ready for bed.

Both girls got dressed in the pajamas and brushed their teeth in awkward silence.

Sasuke brushed her hair and was putting it in a braid for bed when Hinata spoke up.

“Dinner was kind of tense tonight. Sasuke, do you hate me?” Hinata asked, straightforward for once.

“I don’t hate you Hinata. I barely have any opinion of you at all.” It was harsh, but not untrue.

Hinata cast her eyes down. “I’m sorry. I know we haven’t always gotten along but I’m trying to be strong and try my hardest every day to catch up to Naruto and-“

Sasuke cut her off. “Jeez. That’s it! You never stop talking about Naruto! Seriously do you have any feelings of your own outside of thinking about Naruto all the time? There’s more to life that obsessing over him!”

Hinata stopped talking.

_Finally._

Sasuke could have screamed for joy until she turned around and saw the girl with tears falling down her face.

_Crap._

Sasuke pinched the bridge of her nose. “Hey. You don’t have to care about what I think, alright? If you want to spend time thinking about Naruto, go right ahead. But I’m telling you now, he is not picking up on the hints.”

Hinata sniffed. “I know. If I just get stronger maybe I can prove to him and myself that I’m not worthless. That’s all I want.” Her face scrunched up in a pitiful manner.

Sasuke was in emotional overload. If she didn’t fix this now, Sakura would be all over her. Plus, she found that she felt slightly bad at snapping at the delicate girl.

“You have a lot of good qualities and traits, but you should think about focusing on yourself rather than obsessing over Naruto. You’ll appreciate that more in the end.”

“You think I have good qualities?” Hinata asked, brushing away a tear and sitting down at the foot of their bed.

Sasuke blushed. “Well, yeah. You’re always looking out for your teammates, and you never forget anyone’s birthday or special events, you’re a great baker, I mean there’s actually a lot more to you than thinking about boys.”

Sasuke sat down next to her on their shared bed. She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.

“I’m not perfect either, so really you don’t have to listen to me.” She felt the blush grow deeper on her cheeks. Having heartfelt conversations was not something she would ever be used to, especially not with acquaintances like the Hyuga princess.

“I value you and our friendship, or acquaintanceship whatever you want to call it. If I have to prove myself to you too, I’ll do it!” Hinata grabbed her hands and stared deeply into Sasuke’s eyes.

“Um. Okay.” Sasuke looked around awkwardly and slowly pulled her hands out of Hinata’s. “Thanks for being around even if I get grouchy.”

Hinata smiled widely at her.

 _Dammit. Why does she have to be so genuinely nice?_ Sasuke curled her legs up to her chest and slowly maneuvered under the blankets.

“Goodnight, Sasuke.”

“Goodnight, Hinata.”

 _Maybe someone like her is best for a guy like Naruto. Someone who can devote herself fully to him and his happiness and his goals._ Sasuke felt the tears sting at her eyes. She blinked them away and tried to have a restful night’s sleep.

* * *

Vacation out of the way, Sasuke dove back into missions and training.

She had been paired with Fu mostly. She wondered if that was because Danzo didn’t trust her yet and so wanted someone with mind control around to take charge if need be. 

It could also just as easily be that he clearly had favorites and his favorites were often paired together for the best and juiciest missions. 

Their missions certainly did have a high rate of success.

They were masters at espionage slipping in and out of countries at will. Sasuke finally started to see the use in the academy’s insistence that kunoichi learn skills like flower arranging and cultural norms.

She relished the ease in which she slipped from Iwa country peasant to metropolitan Kirigakure party girl. 

She teased Fu as he slipped up, talking about a Suna development in Kirigakure. Sasuke had easily covered for him, but she took advantage of his mistake by mercilessly taunting him when they were alone. 

He had simply rolled his eyes and stated his brain was too full with other useful knowledge that the details slipped away from him sometimes. 

Sasuke said it was a sign of his old age.

He was much older than her but Sasuke didn’t mind his company. She never felt her true age anyways. Loss at an early age forced her to mature faster than her classmates. 

Sometimes she missed her friends though. The mindless gossip of Ino, the fixation on weaponry from Tenten, the clucking mother hen antics of Sakura and her admittedly horrible cooking. 

She had unintentionally been avoiding Naruto. The conversation at the hot springs forced her to realize she was in fact, head over heels for him. 

That was embarrassing.

She had no time for boys.  
She could imagine her clansmen rolling over on the graves if she wavered in her revenge for the sake of chasing after a boy.  
No.  
He would undoubtedly be a distraction. One she could not afford.

  
He would ask about her. That much she knew. Sakura would convey that he missed her and wanted to know if he offended her somehow.  
  
Sasuke would simply roll her eyes and say she was busy. He should understand that _, if he has time to worry over me he could be training_ she would always retort with just enough sass in her to make it believable.   
  
He could busy himself with Hinata for all she cared, if he was so starved for attention.  
  
Although that thought drove her wildly jealous. But she pretended not to notice. 

“I think we should stop here for night.” Fu said, letting out a puff of air and removing his mask.

Sweaty clumps of orange hair stuck to his forehead and he scratched them back working his hands all around his scalp.

“That’s how you get dandruff. If it itches you should just ignore it.” Sasuke scoffed at him.

Fu rolled his eyes. “You’re such a nag.” But regardless he stopped itching at his scalp.

The two rolled out their sleeping bags and attempted to rest in the pitch-black dark of night.

Sasuke stared up at the sky. A slight haze was covering the stars.

Like most nights, increasing frequently since her mission in the land of Rivers, she thought about her family.

_I had gotten complacent. Revenge should have never taken a back seat in my priorities and yet I took the time to climb the ranks on the Konoha shinobi force, make friends, and worry about Orochimaru. None of that matters._

She rubbed her hand along her stomach lazily.

_I’m refocused now. That’s all I can concentrate on._

Suddenly a bright explosion of light interrupted their slumber.

Sasuke was on first watch, she went to shake Fu awake but he had already jumped up and out of his sleeping bag.

“It’s coming from Konoha.”

They both stared at each other, nodded, and ran towards home.

* * *

Sasuke and Fu were woefully late to the attack on the village. But, it seemed that they were not needed.

Sasuke heard some of the details the next day from Sakura. It seemed that Naruto had saved the day, along with Asuma, despite transforming into the nine-tails cloak.

There had been a group of disgruntled nationalists that Asuma had formerly allied with. Sasuke didn’t know all of the details, or care. Naruto was gaining renown amongst the shinobi of the village and even some citizens.

Sasuke had been exceedingly proud of him in that moment. _He’s getting closer to his dreams. I should go see him._

She hesitantly pulled on her shoes and was already practicing what she would say to him once they met.

Instead, a ROOT ANBU member had flickered into her room. “Danzo is summoning you.” She didn’t recognize the voice, but that wasn’t surprising. Danzo often kept members hidden from each other.

It prevented them from forming bonds with each other that would jeopardize his complete control over their actions.

Sasuke sped off to their headquarters. She opened the door to Danzo’s chambers, and he placed a scroll before her. 

This would be her mission, separate from Fu.

Her companions would also be different from the ones she had teamed with in the past.

Sasuke nodded. _Understood. No one to rely on but myself, this has to be a test._

She flickered downstairs to meet her teammates. They didn’t bother giving her their names or even allowing such informalities as greetings or small talk. Sasuke didn’t mind it much, they were simply accessories on her path to strength. 

She opened the scroll and read it, memorizing the contents before it burst into flames disappearing forever.

Their mission was of the utmost secrecy.

They were to infiltrate the border lands of the village hidden in the Rain. Apparently, that was the supposed hideout of the Akatsuki and a Jinchuriki had been spotted roaming about there. It would be the perfect spot to seize their target and draw out the Akatsuki.

This was all done without the approval of Tsunade. If the other villages knew Konoha was attempting to capture another Jinchuriki it could be grounds for war. 

Sasuke pushed that thought out of her mind. It brought her closer to the Akatsuki and therefore Itachi. That was all that mattered. 

Utakata was the name of their target. He had defected from Kirigakure some years before and was hiding with allies of the Leaf in the mountains.

Sometimes he would come down from his hiding spot and simply stroll about, gazing at the clouds.

Sasuke didn’t bother to know why Danzo knew all of this and hadn’t informed Tsunade of the whereabouts of another Jinchuriki. Although maybe she knew and didn’t care. She was learning that Tsunade often had her own agenda, separate from what Danzo was trying to do.

_I can’t tell if that’s for the best or not. I don’t trust Danzo but I don’t trust Tsunade either._

Sasuke stopped thinking. _Focus on what you’re required to do._

“We’ll split up.” One of her teammates in a dragon’s mask stated. Sasuke bit back her snarky reply of _who made you team leader?_ It was a good plan, considering the amount of ground they had to cover.

“Understood.” The four-man team dispersed.

Sasuke headed south, closest to the border near the land of Rain.

She started her sweep, marking off the land into quadrants in her mind and crossing them out when she had searched fully.

There was never any guarantee that their target would be here, but Danzo was rarely in the right place at the wrong time.

She reached a river and mentally crossed out another quadrant.

_One left._

She doubled back and headed east.

She started to see a trail of bubbles floating high up above the trees. _What in the world?_

Sasuke ran in their direction and saw two figures in a clearing.

_That hair, that face, it all seems to match the description of the Jinchuriki._

She got closer and saw the second figure come clearer into view. _An Akatsuki cloak!_

Sasuke quickly formed her hand signs and released a jutsu straight into the air, signaling her squad to come to her location before rushing into the clearing.

The woman in the Akatsuki cloak looked sternly in her direction.

“I don’t intend for you to get involved.” A serious face adorned with piercings and an upward lilting mouth intoned down at her.

Sasuke glanced around her. They seemed to be alone.

“I can’t leave this alone. If this man in a jinchuriki, he should be returned to safety in our village, not taken by a member of the Akatsuki. I know what you did to Lord Kazekage. If I leave, you will kill him.” She activated her sharingan, ready to fight.

“Is he worth your life?” The woman asked.

She had no particular attachment to this man. Sasuke knew that saving this jinchuriki could ingratiate her further with Danzo, especially if she brought him back to Konoha alive.

_And it would be the right thing to do, saving his life. You still care about that, right?_

Her inner monologue asked her. She had to admit, the ‘right thing’ was starting to be more and more convoluted and she grew closer to her revenge.

She scowled. Sasuke also wanted to test her new strength.

She could feel the power coursing through her.

Danzo had been training her well. She could manipulate Chidori and even the weather under the right circumstances. She was in the process of polishing a technique she planned on calling Kirin that called lightning from the sky. 

The weather seemed almost perfect for it.

She stowed that fact away in her mind and squared up against the woman.

“I’m sorry but I cannot let you leave here. If you wish to live surrender now.” Sasuke removed the sword from its holster on her hip.

“Those are brave words, but entirely too foolish. I see you are nothing like Itachi.” 

“I am nothing like him.” She growled out. “But that doesn’t mean you get to blow me off.” Sasuke rushed forward and the woman produced paper origami wings to float upwards. 

“My name is Konan. It seems appropriate that you know my name before I wipe you from this earth.” She straightened out her arms and a barrage of paper flew towards Sasuke. “Consider this mercy, child. I’ll allow you to rejoin your family and leave this cursed world.”

Sasuke used her sharingan to avoid the paper, noting with her sharp eyes that paper bombs were hidden throughout the mass. She jumped backwards and avoided an explosion. 

The smoke and dust rose up into the air, mixing with the grey sky. 

Sasuke formed the hand signs for a fireball jutsu and turned towards Konan. _Let’s see if her paper can be used against her._

Konan flapped her wings and rose high above the fireball.

Sasuke sent a wave of smaller more precisely aimed fireballs towards her, blocking her most obvious escape routes.

Konan ditched her wings and gracefully dropped to the ground. “You have quite an array of long range jutsu, let’s see how you handle up close battles.” 

Utakata took this opportunity to run off, leaving the battlefield and the fight for his life. Both women turned to him but Konan merely watched him dart away. 

“Aren’t you going after him?” Sasuke asked. 

“He won’t get far in the amount of time it’ll take to finish this.”

“Now _you’re_ being foolish. If you think I’ll let you get away you’re sorely mistaken.” 

Konan jumped back and started to form signs, Sasuke couldn’t recognize them and rapidly threw another wave of fireballs her way.

Konan dodged them with ease but Sasuke had intended for her to do so. She appeared behind Konan midair and wrapped her legs around her waist, flipping her trajectory and tossing Konan to the ground with a powerful thrust of her hips. 

Her body implanted on the ground and disappeared into paper slips.

_A clone? No I would have seen that switch occur with my sharingan._

She watched in awe as the paper reassembled into Konan. 

“That’s an interesting jutsu.” Sasuke begrudgingly admitted. 

“I’m full of surprises, as are you. You’re quite fast.”

Konan split the ground beneath Sasuke’s feet and she jumped back, barely escaping the ground opening up. She took refuge in a tree before having to jump from that too. 

_She doesn’t seem keen on close battle, maybe her words earlier were to psych me out? Or maybe she is trying to ditch me to chase after the Jinchuriki?_

Sasuke glanced up briefly. The condition of the sky seemed perfect to test this out. 

Sasuke removed her wire and threaded it through kunai before tossing them out to surrounding trees.

She ran lightly across her makeshift tightrope and jumped down in the middle of her web.

She quickly ran behind Konan and stuck her sword through her, hitting a clump of paper instead. _To be expected._

Still, her jab pushed Konan back towards the wire. Sasuke attacked again and again slowly driving her towards the wires. Sasuke breathed out a barrage of fireballs pushing Konan even further back towards her web. One of the fireballs ignited a paper bomb placed by Sasuke and the wires lit up, quickly igniting the dead and dried trees Sasuke had chosen for this move. 

A billow of smoke rose up hundreds of meters into the air.

Konan emerged in the sky, her wings slightly singed but still very much alive. “You have smooth moves and a sharp mind. However, you will see I outclass you.” 

Sasuke locked her eyes onto her target and performed her hand signs faster than Konan eyes could keep up with. She raised her hands and called out with a yell, “Kirin!” 

The sky crackled. A dragon made out of lightning emerged from the clouds, aided by the dense debris filled atmosphere. It attacked Konan and fried her, dropping her body like a brick from the sky. 

Her body hit the ground and this time no papers flew away. 

_Yes!_

Sasuke ran over to her. Konan laid in one spot, eyes wide and gasping for air. 

Sasuke removed her sword and held it to her neck. “Now. Tell me what you’re planning to do when you have all the tailed beasts extracted. And how does Itachi play into your plans.”

Konan coughed out blood and let is slowly dribble down her chin. “We aim for a new world, one filled with peace where no strife has to tear apart any more families. I think that’s something you could appreciate.” She coughed and grabbed at her stomach, groaning in the process. 

Sasuke had a momentary lapse in concentration watching the woman roll about in pain and Konan seized the opportunity, grabbing onto her arm and having her hand transform into paper bombs that wrapped themselves around Sasuke spreading across her body.

_Shit!_

Sasuke jumped back and tried to rip the bombs off but they were fastened to her with chakra. She felt a spark as one of the bombs ignited. 

Cursing, Sasuke rapidly attempted to defuse the bombs by running electricity fused chakra into them. She succeeded in stopping the explosions but stepped backwards onto a hidden paper bomb that Konan guided her into. 

_Shit!_

She braced herself for the explosion, covering the backside of her body in chakra.

She fell to ground in a slump, struggling to catch her breath. She attempted to take a calming deep breath in and found she could only breath shallow, restricted breaths. 

_A lung injury?_

She wished in that moment that Sakura was there, or her ROOT team mates. _Surely, they would have heard the commotion by now?_

The sudden movement and expenditure of chakra had at least seemed to wear out Konan who had managed to sit up, but looked as though she would keel over any second from the exertion. 

Konan looked into the trees and signaled for somebody. She heard a high-pitched man’s voice yell out something but Sasuke’s ears couldn’t make out his words through the loud buzz the explosion had left behind.

Konan’s body disappeared in a swirl before Sasuke’s eyes. Her sharingan failed to track her movements. _What kind of jutsu is that?!_ She asked in bewilderment. 

She attempted to sit up and instead jostled her beat up lungs, forcing her to cough out blood onto the ground.

_This isn’t good._

She began to lose consciousness. She thought she could hear her mother’s voice call faintly to her. _I think I’m dreaming_ she thought deliriously. 

A hand grabbed onto her shoulder and shook. “Hey. Uchiha. Stay awake. We’re heading back.”

She attempted to mumble out _something_ but no words came out. She dropped her head backwards. _Its too much work to hold it up._ She sighed and felt her body get picked up off the ground. 

“Come on. If we let her die here Danzo’s going to get pissed. She’s been his little pet project since she joined.” A mans voice exclaimed with contempt. _Oh. That’s one of my teammates._

_How nice they returned._

It was the last thought she had before slipping into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think it's possible for Sasuke to beat Konan but she got close. Also, that was Tobi coming to swoop her away at the end if that wasn't clear. He was watching from a distance as the two women fought. Next chapter you'll get to hear his thoughts about it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who haven’t watched Shippuden, this chapter spoils Tobi’s true identity.

In a dark cave, with tunnels twisting down low beneath the ground hundreds of meters out of sight from any prying eyes, a man stood in front of his mirror. 

A lantern flickered softly in the corner. 

He raised his hand to his spiraled orange mask and slowly removed it. He ran his hands along the scars covering the right half of his face and grimaced at the empty eye socket with its eyelid drooping lazily. Closing his eyes, he imagined what his lost eye was seeing at this very moment. If his brief (and always from afar) glimpses of Kakashi throughout the years were anything to go by, it was staring blanky at a piece of cloth only seeing the light of day when violence called. 

In an almost poetic way, the man thought that he could say the same about himself but then again he never really understood poetry.  _ Ah, oh well.  _ He chuckled lowly in the dark of the room. A giant venus fly trap emerged through the floor, a black and white head nestled between it. The man put his mask back on. 

“Zetsu. I've been thinking about Sasuke ever since I saw her fight against Konan.” The masked man said. “I have to admit, I liked what I saw. Konan hasn't had to think that hard during battle in quite a while.”

He chuckled darkly. “I had hoped that she would have come after Itachi by now. He grows weaker every day and Sasuke's prowess would be near unbeatable if she awoke her Mangekyo.” He breathed in deeply. “If she knows the truth, I know she will destroy Konoha from the inside out.” 

  
Zetsu nodded understandingly. “Do you plan on telling her the truth?” 

The masked man rubbed his right shoulder tenderly. “I do. But how to go about doing so?” He hummed quietly in the silent cavern and thought.   


* * *

Sasuke was released from the hospital after two days. 

All things considered she had been lucky. A lung was easy enough to patch up with medical ninjutsu and one of her teammates had applied ointment to her charred skin to protect the layers growing beneath, so after a few weeks her burns would disappear.

Sakura had let her go under strict orders not to overdo her training. A patched-up lung did not mean she had the same capacity as before and she would have to work back up to her previous level.

Sasuke felt her bones creak with every step. She had been a fool to engage with the Akatsuki member but what were her options?

She side stepped an old man loading boxes into his fruit stand and twirled to avoid an already drunk gaggle of young men. The sun was beginning to set and it made for a beautiful sight.

The cool air of the late fall did help soothe her nerves some. Not entirely though. 

She had thought that for a brief moment she saw a flash of worry pass through the woman’s features as Kirin rained down on her from above.

Yet it wasn’t enough to take her out. 

She scowled remembering how Utakata had ran off, seeking his escape while they were engaged.  _ I hope he made it out alive but fuck him.  _ She bitterly cursed him.  _ We could have taken her down together if he bothered hanging around.  _

It had been the perfect chance to take down an enemy one on one and she had failed. Her futile grabs at power had resulted in change, of that she was sure, but it amounted to nothing against a truly strong enemy. 

_ What more do I need to do? _

Itachi’s voice resoundedin her head telling her to that she knew what she needed to do, “ _come before me when you have these eyes._ ”

But to do that... no that was not an option. That way of obtaining power had to be off limits to her.

She was floundering. She had no care that she was quickly becoming a favorite of Danzo for her quick and efficient ways, or that she was starting to garner a reputation among foreign nations, or even that she could take down any number of shinobi in and out of Konoha. None of that mattered when her true targets were at a superhuman level.

She felt a hand reach out towards her and automatically pivoted, she grabbed a kunai out from a secret thigh strap and aimed it at the assailant’s neck. Her hand was caught swiftly and twisted forcefully. 

The kunai clattered to the ground unceremoniously.

She focused back on her surroundings and saw Kakashi’s unamused face sternly peering down at her. 

“What if I wasn’t a special class jonin and just a child coming out to get your attention? Would you have stabbed them in the neck?”

She scowled. “A child wouldn’t have been trying to hide their presence. Are you following me?”

“No. I saw you across the street and came to say hello. I heard you were in quite a battle.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.  _ And I could sense your murderous intent, any shinobi worth his salt could.  _ He noted that the street had been cleared out of shinobi, only clueless civilians remained. 

“Hn.”

She turned her back and continued walking. He followed a short pace behind her. “Now you’re following me. You said hello, if there’s nothing else please leave.” 

Kakashi bit the inside of his cheek. Really there was nothing to say. She wasn’t his impressionable young student anymore and he had no right to intervene. He sighed and moved to ruffle her hair but pulled back. “I’ll see you around.” He flickered away.  _ I’ll have to be nicer to Gai, that’s a shitty attitude to deal with.  _ He jumped across the rooftops to find his rival and friend. 

Sasuke felt him leave and told herself she was fine. She didn’t even mind he pulled back from his signature hair ruffle.  _ I’m not a child, I don’t need comforting. I haven’t been a child for a long time.  _ She scowled, scaring a man out of her pathway. 

* * *

Sasuke felt guilty the rest of her walk home.  _ I shouldn’t have been rude to Kakashi. I couldn’t help it though. _

She kicked a pebble and sent it flying down the empty street.  _ I can’t push everyone who loves me away like this. _

She thought about Sakura, who she hadn’t really seen since leaving the hospital. She thought about Granny cat, who she hadn’t seen in at least a year. She thought about Naruto, who she definitely was blowing off.

She exhaled a breath she didn’t know she had been holding in.

She walked up the stairs to her apartment and saw an orange blur jump up to the second floor.

He leaned against the balcony fence.

“Hey, it’s been a while.” Naruto searched her face, serious for once.

Sasuke nodded. “Yeah. It has.”

Naruto leaned over the balcony. “Are you mad at me? I know I can be annoying sometimes but-“ Sasuke rushed at him and threw herself around him, burrowing into his neck and crying. 

“Just let me do this. And don’t talk” she gripped him tighter.  _ I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m Sorry. Please understand that I’m sorry.  _

He continued to hold her, silently rubbing her back and enjoying the smell of vanilla radiating off of her. 

_ I never want to let go.  _

Eventually though, he did let go of her. She pulled away from him and ushered him inside, hiding her puffy red face from him. 

“Take a seat, I’ll be right out.” She sniffled and wandered into the bathroom. She washed her face and blotted gently at her cheeks, trying to make the blotches go away. 

He sat down on her couch. Her apartment was never too homey, but it at least always had elements of personality. An Uchiha flag hung up, a house plant, a magazine set atop her coffee table. He noticed that none of those things remained, except for Uchiha flags hung up. He also noticed that her apartment was, for lack of a more tactful word, messy. The Sasuke he knew never would have allowed her living conditions to be like this. He noticed dirty dishes strewn across her living room and carefully gathered them up, bringing them to the sink.

He picked up her books and put them back on the shelf.  _ There, it’s a little better. _

He was scared to admit it but he felt deep in his bones that Sasuke was depressed.

He was no stranger to the dark feelings that arose when one got in a funk. He pretended not to notice that his house was messy and stunk a lot of the time because he was depressed. Right now was time to focus on Sasuke.

She stepped out of the bathroom looking a bit more presentable. “Would you like me to make some tea?” She noticed the stack on dishes in her sink and felt shame course through her. 

“Sure. I can get it started. Why don’t you sit down and find a movie to put on?” Naruto went to the sink and filled her kettle up, placing it on the stove.  _ I’ve learned a little bit more about good hosting these past years, Sasuke. Just sit back and relax.  _

He grabbed two mugs and placed the teabags inside.

Sasuke picked out a movie, a horror flick taking place in a high school.  _ Seems mindless enough. _

Naruto brought the mugs over and placed one in front of Sasuke.

“Here you go. An herbal chamomile to help soothe your nerves.”

“Thanks Naruto.” Sasuke blew the top of the tea and took a sip.  _ Perfect.  _

“Although watching a scary movie will probably just wind you up again.” Naruto looked with apprehension as a group of teens read from an ancient text on the screen. 

Sasuke chuckled. “Not something this lame.”

They sat on the couch and watched the movie. Sasuke and Naruto kept sneaking glances at each. 

Sasuke decided to go for it. She stuck her hand out and grabbed his, entwining their hands together. She didn’t look at him.  _ There’s nothing weird about this. Don’t act nervous. Uchiha don’t get nervous.  _ She told herself. 

Naruto’s stomach flip flopped around inside of him but he didn’t acknowledge the fact that she had grabbed his hand. He knew any acknowledgment of what she had done would immediately end her show of affection. He was not willing to let that happen. He held her hand silently, a big grin threatening to break out across his face. 

She grumbled. “If you make a move on me I’m going to kill you, you got it?”

“Yes ma’am.”

They watched the rest of the movie in comfortable silence.

Naruto was internally vibrating, he felt like he was on cloud nine.

Sasuke was also happy. But she couldn’t stop the next wave of guilt that washed through her.  _ You know you don’t have time for this. Happiness comes after revenge and your so close to a breakthrough, you can feel it.  _

Sasuke kept wavering between guilt over not being a good friend to those people currently in her life and guilt over not focusing on revenge. 

She felt like crying all over again. The movie credits began to roll.

Naruto cleared his throat. He had tried to find the words to say the whole movie, but nothing seemed appropriate. 

There were a million different things he wanted to say but what popped out was, “So am I your boyfriend now?”

He felt the apprehension waft off Sasuke.

_ Dammit. I just ruined it. _

“I like you, Naruto. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. More than that, really. I know I can’t ask you to wait around for me but I cant lose focus on Itachi. I feel like I’m coming to a breakthrough on him.” She pulled her hand away and rubbed at her elbow awkwardly.

“I don’t want to lead you on.” She maneuvered away from him and sat at the edge of the couch. “But I just don’t have time for a…relationship.” She choked out. 

_ “ _ Oh.” Naruto swallowed a lump in his throat. 

_ Wow, this stings.  _

“Ya know, I have the Akatsuki to worry about, they’re still coming after me so I guess I should focus on training.” He flexed his foot up and down and stared intensely at it.

The silence drew out between them. Naruto felt a pain vibrate around his chest.  _ It’s never felt like this any of those times Sakura turned me down.  _

Naruto mentally slapped himself.  _ It’s just a momentary setback, Naruto. Don’t get depressed! _

He turned back to Sasuke and flashed her a big grin.

“You’re still my friend, Sasuke. And I’ll still help you anyway I can with your revenge. If you come to a breakthrough with him, let me know and I’d follow you to the end of the earth to finish him.” He reached over to her and took her hands in his. 

“So let’s just move past this. Our friendship is most important, if we want to,” he paused here and blushed, “be more than friends later we can!”

Sasuke gazed at his open eyes, full of optimism.  _ He means what he says.  _ She felt her own cheeks start to burn.

She smiled back at him.

“You’re an idiot Naruto.” His grin faltered a bit and Sasuke felt slightly bad. “But you’re my idiot.” She felt relieved as his grin grew across his face. 

Sasuke picked up their mugs and set them next to the sink. “It’s getting late you should probably leave now.” She mumbled.

“Yeah. I’ve got a lot of training to catch up on. Yamato and Kakashi have been working me like crazy! I’ll see you around. Don’t be a stranger, ya know?” He left, only a minor blow to his ego.  _ She at least likes me back. I can be patient.  _

He jumped up to the rooftops and bounced back to his apartment.  _ There’s no way I’m going to be able to sleep tonight.  _ He quickly detoured to the training grounds, hoping to burn off his energy high before nightfall. 

Sasuke locked the door behind him and pressed her forehead against the wooden frame.  _ I hope he waits for me.  _

* * *

Kakashi knocked apprehensively on the Hokage’s office door. 

“Come in!” She yelled gruffly at him. 

Kakashi stepped into the room and bowed his head to Tsunade. “I have a request.” He had just come from drinks and camaraderie with Gai. 

A few shots in, he had spilled about his run in with Sasuke, who had shown all the signs of working with Danzo that Kakashi had initially been worried about. 

Gai had gotten serious, sensing his rivals troubled heart. With a hefty smile he wrapped his arm around Kakashi’s shoulder. “My rival, I know a thing or two about the struggles you are going through. I’m sure that her attitude is no worse than what you put me through.” Kakashi winced and Gai just laughed. 

“There’s nothing you can do but force yourself into her life and let her know you’re still her friend! Or, in your case, still her mentor? Sensei? Trusted adult?” Gai struggled with what to call it but Kakashi understood his intent. 

“Thanks Gai. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” The two men smiled warmly at each other before Gai leaned over the edge of their booth and vomited. 

_ Ahh. Time to bring him home. _

After dropping Gai off safely in his bed, and masterfully avoiding some well-placed Drunken Fist moves, Kakashi raced off towards the Hokage’s office. He knew how we would be able to insert himself into Sasuke’s life, and hopefully help her. 

Now, as he was standing before Tsunade about to make his request, he was starting to wonder if it was a good idea to have listened to a drunk Gai. 

“Well? What’s your request, Kakashi.” Tsunade asked. She was curious, Kakashi was more of a ‘do as you’re told’ shinobi not a ‘please can we do things my way’ shinobi. Maybe Naruto was starting to rub off on him. Tsunade pressed a finger into the pressure point in her neck. That was the last thing she needed, her right-hand man becoming a bit too independent. 

“I would like to go on a mission with Sasuke. Just us.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. 

“Oh? She’s working for Danzo now, I doubt he’d let her out for just any old mission. And that’s even with me asking. I don’t know why I would.” Tsunade eyed him.  _ What’s his aim here? _

“I understand.” Kakashi wrung his hands together, feeling ridiculous for what he was about to say. “I was talking with Gai and he put the idea in my head that if I wanted to help her, uh, I should force her to spend time with me.” He was thankful for his mask that could hide the partial blush making its way over his face. 

“I see.” Tsunade held back the tiny little smile threatening to break across her face.  _ He is such a cute young man, I suppose he doesn’t ask for things often. _ “Well, you don’t ask for much. I will talk to Danzo and see if he can be convinced.” With that she waved her hand, dismissing him. 

Kakashi walked back to his apartment, wondering how he had let Gai convince him that this was a good plan. 

* * *

Danzo greeted Sasuke with a silent head nod. She sat down on the mat before him, not sure what to expect. 

“Tsunade has requested you go on a mission.” Danzo stared at her. 

Sasuke blinked and tilted her head. “What does that mean, Danzo?” 

“I’m not entirely sure myself. That’s why I want you to take it. Find out what her end goal is and report back. She will be summoning you later this afternoon. I agreed to her request as a show of good faith, but I want to make sure that you let me know if  _ anything _ is happening behind the scenes on her end, understood? It’s an odd request.” Danzo shook his head, he had been surprised when she summoned him and asked for Sasuke to undertake a mission. The mission itself didn’t sound particularly tough or even one befitting her specialties. However, Danzo could think of no good reason to blatantly turn down the Hokage and so had acquiesced. 

“Yes sir.” Sasuke stood back up and flickered away to her apartment. She packed her mission bag and waited in silence at the edge of her bed for Tsunade’s summons. 

Sasuke was thinking about all of the missing pieces she still needed in order to better understand the reality of her clan’s massacre. 

She was also upset her mind would wander to Naruto as the most in opportune of times. His hand, warm and strong wrapped around hers, his grin big and toothy, his laugh- _stop_ _it_. She warned herself. 

Her head had not stopped its incessant throbbing for days now. Sasuke worried that the stress and overthinking would give her premature wrinkles. Then she criticized herself for bothering to worry about such a trivial thing. 

What she needed to focus on right now was Danzo. His role, how he knew Itachi, if he would harm her now, if he harmed her clansmen then. 

Why was he working with Orochimaru? 

That thought had been nagging at her. By the time the massacre occurred, Orochimaru was long out of the village. 

Yet, Danzo had turned to him for medical implantation. 

Sasuke had the feeling that spoke more to Danzo’s untrustworthiness rather than Orochimaru’s trustworthiness. 

But, Orochimaru had sold him out to her. What did that mean? 

Sasuke felt her headache split her head in two.  _ Fuck _ . She had done it again. She was spinning in circles. Without more information, more context, there was nothing she could do. It was driving her mad. 

Sasuke took a deep breath in and crossed her legs. She cleared her mind of all thoughts.

_ Breathe in. Breathe out.  _

_ Breathe in. Breathe out.  _

_ Breathe in. Breathe out.  _

Sasuke focused on her breathing and let her thoughts whittle away and die in her head. She meditated, letting her mind slow down. 

She continued on this way for the next hour until a knock on her door disturbed her thoughts. It was a chunin, running errands for the Hokage. He told her that Tsunade was summoning her. Sasuke nodded and grabbed her pack before leisurely strolling along the streets on her way to the tower. 

Sasuke had no real reason to hate the Hokage. Sure, they didn’t get along great, but she had never (to Sasuke’s knowledge) betrayed her. 

She wasn’t sure the same could be said about Danzo. Cozying up to that old sly snake had, in an odd turn of events, warmed Sasuke up more to Tsunade. Not that it made her like the loud old woman. 

She arrived at the Hokage’s tower. She walked up the stairs and knocked on her office door. 

“Come in!” 

Sasuke walked in and was surprised to see Kakashi standing there casually, one hip popped out with his hands propped on his sides. “Yo. This doesn’t happen very often. Usually, I’m the one who’s late.” 

Sasuke felt her reply bubble forth before she could stop it. “Hm. I stopped to help an old lady with her groceries.” She smirked, using one of his frequent responses when he was late. 

Kakashi rolled his visible eye.  _ I really should find better excuses _ he thought to himself. 

“Now that you both are here, let me tell you about your mission.” 

Tsunade explained that there was a merchant in one of the Land of Fire’s popular tourist towns who kept getting his shipment caravans attacked by a hoard of mercenary shinobi. They were to stay in this town for the next few weeks and monitor the shipments, making sure they made their way safely to his store and to take the mercenaries into custody, or kill them depending on how the situation unfolds. 

Sasuke nodded along. At the end of the explanation she asked, “Lady Tsunade, I accept this mission, but I have to wonder what made you think I would be a vital piece in this mission? Even Kakashi for that matter. Surely a group of chunin or even a genin team could handle a mission of this level?” 

Tsunade felt her eye twitch. Sasuke was, in fact, completely correct. This should be the easiest mission she or Kakashi had in years. It was also one of the only missions that came in that in the last few days and Tsunade had told Kakashi she would honor his request. “Sasuke. The inner workings of mission assignments are not for you to understand. Please, focus on completing this mission successfully.” 

Kakashi looked around the room, trying not to make eye contact with the women in the room. He agreed, of course. This would be an impossibly easy mission. In some ways, that would be ideal. It would force him and Sasuke to interact more casually during the down time. With less on the line, he could be a little more of her equal rather than her captain- a role he would like to break down in order to reach her more effectively. 

With that, the two-man team was dismissed. 

Sasuke felt her previous levels of guilt return. She hadn’t seen him since leaving the hospital. The night she had Naruto over. She felt the blush heat up her cheeks at the thought. 

Kakashi looked over at her and felt dread fill his stomach.  _ Oh no, she’s burning up with anger _ . He started to feel even worse,  _ I should not have listened to Gai this is going to end terribly _ . 

The two walked silently out of the village. Sasuke worried that he was upset at how she dismissed him so callously a few days before.

Still, she let her pride hold out. 

Izumo and Kotetsu yelled out a hearty goodbye to the two and Sasuke waved meekly back. Kakashi took his book out and buried his nose in it. 

They continued this way, walking quietly and casually the rest of the way to the tourist trap of a town about 6 hours away. 

When they arrived, Kakashi checked them into their respective rooms. Sasuke cleared her throat as he handed her the room key. “Did you want to grab dinner together?” 

Kakashi thought for a moment and nodded. “My treat.” He smiled beneath his mask and Sasuke felt a tiny bit better. “I’ll come get you after settling into our rooms.” 

Sasuke responded with a ‘Hn.’ And walked the rest of her way to her room. 

* * *

True to his word, as soon as Sasuke had unpacked her small mission pack and rubbed her feet, Kakashi came knocking on her door.

“Ready?” He called through the door. 

Sasuke grumbled. He could stand to be a little late, at times like this.

“Yes, I’m ready.” She stood back up and slipped her shoes on. 

He ushered her out of the hotel and to the street. After looking around for a place, he decided on a cute little restaurant nestled on the river, the smell of fried fish wafted out to them both. 

They were sat at a table by the waitress in the back at a secluded table. 

“So. When do we meet with this merchant?” Sasuke asked, sipping on her water. 

“Tomorrow, bright and early. I don’t anticipate this will be too tough but it’s best to stay on guard.” Kakashi stuck his straw in the water and noticed her eyes had focused intensely on him. 

He held back an admittedly cocky grin.  _ You still haven’t outgrown that huh? _

Sasuke sensed his amusement and forced herself to relax.  _ Tch. I’m over seeing what’s behind the mask, grow up. _

Still she found her eyes being pulled back to his face. Kakashi, of course, revealed nothing downing his water in split seconds while she was distracted.

The waitress brought out two orders of pan fried fish and a heaping serving of rice.

They dug in and continued their conversation. “I’ve read through the mission briefing over and over, I think the best course of action is to start by interrogating those who benefit from our clients loss in business. I imagine that a disgruntled fellow merchant is behind this.”

Sasuke nodded in agreement. “Agreed. Do we know when his next planned shipment is?”

Kakashi seemed in thought, “I believe that it will be in one weeks time. We can gather more intel on the hired shinobi and get those details figured out before that happens.”

Sasuke nodded again and used her chopsticks to push a piece of fish around. “Kakashi.” 

He looked up. “Hmm?”

“I’ve been short with you lately. I hope that...” she trailed off. She wanted to apologize but felt her pride block her.

“It’s fine. Water under the bridge.” Kakashi waved his hand nonchalantly.

“Thank you.”

“Now. I’m ready for dessert, how bout you?” Sasuke looked in surprise at his empty plate as he patted his stomach and let out a hefty sigh. 

_ When did he?! _

“Oh. Sure.” She shook her head. “Matcha ice cream for me. Your treat right? Make it a double scoop.” 

Kakashi chuckled. “Still not as bad as Naruto’s appetite. That’s why you’re my favorite student.” 

Sasuke rolled her eyes, “Former student thank you. I’m a Jonin now, just like you.” 

“Of course.” Kakashi felt the weight leave his tired shoulders.  _ We’re back in our normal swing of things. _

* * *

The mission, as anticipated, was easily completed. Kakashi finished his interviews and narrowed his suspicions to one elderly man who was in the same importing business. 

Sasuke trailed him for a few days and managed to see him hand money off to the leader of the shinobi mercenaries.  _ Got you. _

She turned to Bisky beside her from their rooftop vantage point and told her to signal Pakkun, who was waiting with Kakashi.

Bisky barked at a frequency higher than Sasuke’s ears could hear but it caused Kakashi and Pakkun to come running. Sasuke pointed down at the exchange occurring beneath them.

The foursome jumped down and confronted the men. After a very short battle the merchant admitted defeat and allowed himself to be taken to jail. 

All in all, it was over in six days.

Sasuke was back in her room taking one last shower before hitting the road. She stepped out and dried herself off, putting on her last pair of clean clothing. _ It’s rare we get to leave so timely, I usually always burn through my clothing supply.  _

Kakashi knocked on her door, letting himself in when she called out, “It’s unlocked!”

“Yo. There’s a festival today. I want to stop by quickly before going back.”  _ I need to pick out something really good for Gai, his insane advice actually did help _ . He smiled softly beneath his mask.

“Hn. That’s fine. Check-out is delayed, the granny up front told me they’re having trouble kicking out a belligerent guest. She said if you used your shinobi skills to get him moving she’d throw in a free night.” Sasuke smirked,  _ like we’d waste our time with something like that.  _

“Of course. It’s our duty to help those in need, especially citizens of the Land of Fire.” 

_ Oh _ . Sasuke thought. “What about getting back on the road and returning to the village?” 

“We already finished ahead of schedule, we can stand to spend an extra night helping out an old innkeeper, besides it might be relaxing to take it easy for one day.”

Sasuke pouted, although she would deny it vehemently if anyone were to see, and thankfully Kakashi had the brains not to comment on childish act. “Fine. Go to the front desk, I’ll unpack my bags.”

Kakashi flickered away to help and Sasuke begrudgingly unpacked. 

The day started to fade away and Sasuke kept herself hidden in her room. Kakashi came back and asked if she wanted to go to the festival but she turned him down, “I’m reading, but you have fun.”

She  _ was _ reading, Danzo had tasked her with keeping her mind sharp and so assigned her a list of 100 books to read in her spare time,  _ but _ she was also miffed that they were expected to stay another night. 

_ Nothing about this is relaxing, I want to get back. _ She huffed, thinking about Kakashi wandering around playing games and racking up souvenirs.  _ When did he start getting so childish? _ She grumbled to herself. 

She heard the door click shut down the hall,  _ that’ll be him _ , and sighed. They were the only two left on this floor. Most people had checked out earlier that day to get home before the traditional work week started.

She set her book down and dimmed the lamp on her bedside table. She stood up and stretched her legs.  _ Sheesh, I’ve been sitting so long I almost started cramping up.  _

She felt a warm hand grasp her shoulder firmly, "Sasuke. Don't scream." A male's voice breathed in her ear. 

Sasuke, for her credit, did not scream. She attacked. She whipped around and swung her arm out, slipping right through the man standing behind her. 

She looked at him. He had an orange mask covering his face and the signature black and red Akatsuki robe on. She scowled and whipped out a kunai, jumping forward at him slashing away. He dogded every move. 

"Sasuke. calm down."

"Who are you?."  _ Akatsuki, that can only mean one thing.  _ “I won’t let you take Naruto!”

"Right now I'm not interested in Naruto." The man grabbed her hand and swung it to the side, twisting up so that she dropped her weapon. "I'm interested in you." 

_ Shit. shit. shit. Kakashi's room is down the hall. If I scream will he make it here in time? _

“If you think I’ll be an easy target you’re sorely mistaken.”

He released his hold on her hand and twirled her around, setting her softly on the edge of her bed. 

“I’m not here to fight, I swear!” His voice went up a few octaves and he held up a peace sign and plopped himself down on the chair near the desk. 

“You’re too feisty.” He sighed deeply. 

Sasuke tensed and drew another kunai out from under her bed.  _ Who is this guy and why is switching between serious and playful so easily? What a weird personality… _

“I wouldn’t dream of fighting you, but if you keep coming at me I’ll have no choice and I really, really don’t want to hurt you.” He said seriously. 

Sasuke waited for a moment. “What do you want?” She asked, never loosening her defensive stance or lowering her guard. 

“I want to tell you the truth, Sasuke.” 

“The truth? What truth would that be.” She was impressionable, not that she was aware of it. Obito, however, was fully aware. Vague statements like that would be more than enough to pique her interest. 

“The truth about the Uchiha.”

Sasuke felt her blood run cold. “Why would I believe you?”

The man in the mask breathed in deeply and took off the orange swirled mask. His eyes were closed and Sasuke took in every line and mark and scar on his face. 

_ What happened to him?  _

“You may not believe me, but I am Uchiha Madara.” He opened his eye, revealing the Mangekyo sharingan. “And I know who ordered your clan to be exterminated.”

Sasuke’s kunai cluttered to the ground, her mouth agape. 

Obito smirked.

_ I’ve got her. _

They were interrupted by a knock on her door. 

“Sasuke? Is everything okay? I sensed your chakra flare up.” Kakashi’s concerned voice rang from outside her door. 

Obito disappeared in a flash, leaving only a note behind. 

Sasuke stood up and looked quickly at what he had wrote.  _ Meet me in the forest at midnight, I’ll explain everything.  _

Sasuke bit her lip and folded the note, stuffing it down her shirt. 

“Sasuke?” Kakashi’s concerned voice grew louder. 

“Coming!” She wrapped a shawl around her and opened her door. “I’m fine. I startled myself, that’s why my chakra flared. Sorry for disturbing you.” 

Kakashi looked mostly convinced. He quickly scanned her room.  _ I don’t sense anyone else here. Still… _

“Well, if anything comes up, I’m just down the hall.” He started to walk back and then quickly turned back. “If you want, I can summon Bisky here to stay with you? She’s good company and helpful if you don’t want to be alone.” 

Sasuke let a genuine smile grace her lips. “No thank you, Kakashi. I’ll be fine. Really. Thank you for your concern.” 

He looked more convinced and nodded to himself. “Okay. I’ll see you in the morning.” 

“See you in the morning.” She responded softly and shut her door. 

She pulled the note back out of her shirt.  _ Can I really trust him? He has the sharingan, he has to be an Uchiha. His black hair, his height, his ability to turn the sharingan on and off seems to point to him being a true wielder. If he really is Madara, why isn’t he an old man? _

She sighed and flopped down on her bed.  _ No matter what the risk, I have to follow this lead.  _

She relaxed and shut her eyes.  _ Could I have a relative left alive?  _

Quickly she shot back up, remembering another part of his words.

_ What did he mean by ordered my clan to be exterminated? _

* * *

Midnight never seemed like it would come. Sasuke’s anxious waiting at times paralyzed her,  _ what am I doing? What will I learn? Whatever I learn, there’s no coming back  _

and at times invigorated her,

_ it has to be Danzo, he’s already played too important of a role in utilizing the massacre to his advantage. No, Itachi wouldn’t follow his orders that blindly. Itachi must have been following the orders of the Akatsuki. No. It has to be- _

She took a deep breath and held it in, counting backwards from 10.  _ If I overthink this, I’ll just psych myself out.  _

She looked at the clock. 11:53 p.m. 

_ So close.  _

She got up and slipped out of her pajamas, putting her training pants and a dark long sleeve sweater on. It was the perfect color and design for slipping away into the cool night. 

11:54 p.m.

She brushed her teeth, more to kill time than to be ready to meet Madara. 

11:56 p.m. 

She stretched her legs and arms, just out of precaution.  _ What if he wants me to prove myself in a spar against him? _

11:57 p.m.

She pulled on her boots and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, foregoing her headband.

11:58 p.m.

She preemptively turned off her alarm and unplugged the clock.  _ Better not to take any chances, if it goes off there’s no way Kakashi wouldn’t hear it.  _

She walked out of her room and quietly shut her door. The walk to the edge of the forest would take her two minutes if she walked briskly and without chakra.  _ Another precaution to avoid alerting Kakashi.  _

She saw the edge of the forest grow nearer. Her heart pounded in her chest, filling her ears with the sound of its pumping growing faster and louder and faster and louder as she stepped closer, and closer, and closer, until-

A hand pulled her backwards. “Where are you going?” 

She blinked out of her daze. “Huh? Kakashi? What are you doing here?” She asked, confused.  _ Did he get a note too? Did he follow me? What’s going on?  _

“I didn’t hear you coming at all.” She confessed.  _ I shouldn’t let myself get so absorbed.  _ She chastised herself. 

“Let me repeat myself. Where. Are. You. Going?” His eye narrowed, taking in her stealthy outfit and lack of headband. 

Sasuke hadn’t expected him to be out here. Based on his question, she assumed he didn’t also get a note and simply was following her. “I’m just clearing my head.” She quietly stated.

“Really? At this hour?” He asked incredulously. 

“Yes at this hour. I can’t sleep.” It was the truth, partially.  _ That’s something you’re becoming a master in, half-truths.  _

He sighed and loosed his grip on her shoulder.  _ Maybe you are just too paranoid, Kakashi.  _

“Sasuke, I know things have been rough for you. I understand the pressure that being in the ANBU comes with.” He grew silent remembering his own dark times. “I’ve been worried about you. It’s why I asked Lady Tsunade to send us on this mission together.” He let go of her completely. 

“I didn’t know you requested that.” Her voice grew quiet.

“I wondered  _ what happened to the girl who hated killing,  _ you don’t even think twice about it anymore. That worries me. I wondered  _ what happened to the girl who at least made jokes and quips at other peoples expense _ , now you’re so silent. You haven’t talked to Naruto in ages, he’s worried sick about you he can’t even focus properly on his training. What’s happening, Sasuke?” He ended softly.

“I’ve been thinking a lot. You don’t have to worry.” Sasuke found she did feel bad about making her former sensei and her friend upset over her. “And I’ll talk to Naruto when we’re back, I don’t want to impact his training.” 

Kakashi nodded. “Alright.” They stood for a second in the cool night air. “We should head back inside.” Kakashi wrapped his arm around her shoulder and attempted to walk them back to the hotel. 

_ Shit! I can’t let him take me back there before I meet with Madara.  _

“No, thank you. I still have a lot on my mind I’d rather walk around first.” Sasuke twisted out of his hold and resumed walking towards the edge of the forest.

Kakashi narrowed his visible eye.  _ Just as I suspected, something else is going on here.  _ “Then let me join you at least. There are dangerous folks around these parts.” 

Sasuke scoffed, “Who? Pickpockets and road thieves? I’m a jonin, I can handle those people in my sleep.”

To her horror, the orange masked man suddenly appeared behind them in his red Akatsuki cloak. “My what a lovely night! It makes a person want to sing!” He exclaimed in his high pitched voice. 

_ What is this guys deal?  _ Sasuke asked herself exasperatedly. 

Kakashi took out a kunai. “Who are you? What do you want?” He instinctively pulled Sasuke closer into him. 

_ This is bad. Is this the person she was trying to meet? Or was it all a set-up?  _ He tried not to think about his student willingly meeting with a member of the Akatsuki.  _ No. She wouldn’t, she cares about Naruto too much to turn traitorous.  _ That was only mild relief, the man was still in front of them. 

“I saw you two out walking and thought I’d come join you! Oh what fun it will be!”

“You don’t seem to be taking this seriously, but we outnumber you two to one. Surrender now and continue living, or else we will have to kill you.” Kakashi said seriously. 

“Oh my. Those options aren’t good at all. What about just talking, hanging out? We could have a whole night of activities! The town is still partying away, we could go to the bars, or ride the Ferris wheel. Come on, don’t be such a wet blanket.”

“No thank you. Really.” Kakashi moved his headband and showed his sharingan. 

_ This is devolving, fast.  _ Sasuke worried internally.  _ Should I do something, or say something? I can’t just blurt out that this man is Madara.  _

Kakashi let go of Sasuke and rushed forward, slashing at the man’s vital points, only to slide right through him.

The two men began to spar.  _ Shit if I don’t help Kakashi out he’ll know something else is going on. If I attack Madara though I might lose any chance of finding out the truth.  _

She knew she had to move. Sasuke used her sharingan to anticipate his next movement and grabbed a hold of him, just to also slip through. 

Kakashi nodded at her,  _ it must be transportation jutsu. Now, where is the rest of him transporting to? _

Suddenly he regained his constitution and held onto Sasuke’s hand in a vice grip. She attempted to pull back and felt herself get nauseous.  _ The world is blurring? Is that a stone floor? _

Kakashi body slammed into the man, breaking his concentration and Sasuke fell onto soft grass, holding in the vomit that threatened to force its way out.  _ What happened?  _

Kakashi pulled her up.  _ Retreat is best. We can’t risk him getting us one on one.  _

“Sorry. I actually need to have a word with your companion.” The man sheepishly stated from behind Kakashi. 

He grabbed onto her and teleported her away, before she knew what was happening she was plopped down onto a stone floor, Kakashi’s horrified look was the last thing she saw.

“Now. Are you ready to listen?” Obito asked, deadly quiet.

Sasuke gulped.  _ It was now or never.  _

* * *

Obito took a deep breath. Itachi would be furious if he found out that he took Sasuke, not that he was scared of Itachi. He was still too concerned with making sure his sister hated him to do anything that exposed his true motives. 

He glanced at the girl's sleeping form on the ground. He would return her soon enough, but he had to make sure that she wasn't going to expose any of his plans.

He shook her awake. “It’s time to go. Kakashi will have alerted Tsunade by now and if I know,” he paused choking back the sentence  _ if I know Kakashi, he will have the whole shinobi force out looking for you!  _

“If I know how Konoha operates, they’ll have dispatched their tracking units already. Time is running out.” 

Sasuke nodded, rubbing her eyes sleepily. Her exhaustion was more emotional than physical, but Madara had told her to nap and process everything anyways. “You’re likely right. What should I tell them about my time here?” 

She wasn’t sure how long she had been here, but she knew that it had taken quite a few hours to get the full story between her fits of rage and threats. She had wanted to believe that Madara was lying but it all seemed to make too much sense. 

_ Why Lord Third treated me better than the other orphans, why Danzo is so interested in keeping on his side, why the Uchiha were under surveillance. _

She felt a sting at that, a reminder that Kakashi had lied to her blatantly when she asked him all those years ago why he was watching her clan with Itachi. 

"Tell them that I took you with the intention of using you as bait to draw Naruto out. I was called together with the rest of the Akatsuki members and during the time that I was away you escaped. I can give up the eastern hideout. It's located in the borders of the Land of Fire, so they will be particularly happy to know of its existence." He looked her up and down. 

"You cannot tell anyone of what I told you. The Uchiha are a diseased clan. The coup, Itachi's madness, our deep running hatred, if they knew of any of this you would be put under surveillance, ostracized from the village."

Sasuke nodded. “Kakashi’s probably worried sick right now. I can’t get that look in his eyes out of my mind as I disappeared from his hold.” She shuddered. 

Obito had a brief moment of rage flicker through him.  _ I could stab you through the heart and drop you right on Kakashi's doorstep. That bastard deserves it and more. _ He felt a shiver run through him.  _ No, stick with your plan.  _

“The intelligence corps will, without a doubt, search every last inch of your memory. I will put a genjutsu over your mind altering what I just told you. It will dissipate in 7 days. That should be enough time to get them off your back.”

Sasuke felt nervous. It was one thing to listen to his ravings, another thing completely to let him in her mind. “What do you mean, alter?”

Obito looked pensively at her. “I’ll make them  _ and _ you believe that I captured you with the intention of luring the nine-tails jinchuriki out here. I will implant very convincing false memories that will revert to the truth after 7 days, long after you will have been interrogated. One week from now when you remember our conversation, I’ll reach back out.”

“Can I ask you to cover up the memories of me going to Orochimaru’s hideout and finding the scrolls about Danzo? I lied about that and if they found out, it would open up an investigation into me and Danzo. I don’t want him to know that I know the truth.”

“Of course. It would be foolish to alert him before we’re ready.”  _ The last thing I need is that old hound sniffing around.  _

“You shouldn’t make a move until you’ve awakened your Mangekyo sharingan. I don’t know what else it will take, but try to influence events to make it happen. You won’t be able to go up against your cousin’s eye without it.”

“I’ll try.”  _ Can I really kill Naruto?  _ Even after learning the truth about everything she couldn’t find it in her to end his life.

_ It doesn’t seem real.  _

_ It can’t be real. _

_ But he is so convincing.  _

Sasuke closed her eyes and pressed her palms roughly against her eyes.  _ I have to find Itachi and drag the truth out of him, then I’ll know. _

She looked up and Obito admired the red sharingan swirly wildly in her eyes.  _ Yes, she will be a fine tool to have.  _

* * *

True to his word, Obito dumped her out at the eastern hideout. He also wiped her memories and instead implanted false memories of her choosing to walk around at midnight, being kidnapped by him, and being told that she was there as bait to lure out Naruto.

He added in some very minor torture tactics, nothing that would be too scarring but would be convincing to the Konoha shinobi who would enter her mind. 

She no longer knew anything about Itachi, her clan, or Danzo’s involvement. 

She had false memories of removing binding rope, crawling through a tunnel in the earth, and popping out here, at the entrance of the hideout. 

Somethings were a blur, but she chalked that up to her hasty escape. 

Obito watched her take stock of her surroundings.  _ I’ll come back for you in seven days. Good luck keeping Konoha off your back.  _

He watched as she oriented herself off the sun and headed south, she quickly became nothing more than a speck jumping off into the distance and so Obito took his leave, plotting what he would tell Itachi.

He chuckled.  _ I guess the same lie I implanted in her, I’m sure he still has connections in Konoha who will tell him what her intelligence corps report out will say.  _

Sasuke was disoriented but quickly found familiar sights to orient herself. She felt a panic at the thought of the Akatsuki member coming back and finding her gone.  _ He has that weird jutsu that let’s his whole body disappear and reappear at will. _

_ No, don’t think of that. You’re in the Land of Fire. Focus on getting to Konoha.  _

She saw a cloud of ash rise up in the distance. She faltered.  _ That’s the Sarutobi clan’s justu.  _ She briefly paused. 

_ If I continue straight I’ll arrive in Konoha in no time, but it looks like a fight is taking place to my left.  _ She thought about Kakashi’s words to her, his worry over her character and she let out a sigh.  _ I can’t abandon my comrades.  _ She pivoted and bounded off to her left racing towards the fight.  _ They better be in some real deep shit or else I’m just wasting time.  _ She grumbled to herself.

She raced over there, hearing a maniacal scream the closer she got.  _ They’re facing off against a real maniac up there.  _ She quickened her pace and bust through the forest. “Shikamaru?” He swiveled his head towards her. She saw him grimace. “Sasuke. The situation is complex. Don’t engage the enemy.” 

Izumo motioned her over beside him and quickly filled her in. “The man Asuma is fighting is immortal. Right now, they’re linked so any damage done to the enemy will affect Asuma.” 

“Shit.”  _ Out of the pan and into the fire. _

“Yeah. It’s a tough situation.”

Kotetsu tilted his head towards the second man sitting on the stairs. He was staring intently at Sasuke and flipped open a book, skimming through the pages. 

“That’s his partner, he’s called Kakuzu. The one fighting Asuma is Hidan. Both Akatsuki. He promised not to intervene in Hidan’s fight and so far he hasn’t.”

“So why are we all just standing here by Shikamaru?” 

“We’re here to protect him in case the partner tries to attack or if Hidan tries to attack. Without Shikamaru to think of a plan we’re goners.” Izumo licked his lips and a bead of sweat ran down his forehead.

Shikamaru barely acknowledged her. Suddenly he cried out, “Yes! Asuma go!” Asuma jumped out from where he was standing and quickly decapitated Hidan. 

The team cheered triumphantly. 

Sasuke kept her eyes on Kakuzu. He hid his emotions well.  _ I don’t think he’s so laidback he would let his partner die before his very eyes.  _

He stood up and dusted off his cloak.

A voice rang out from the bushes. “Ahh what the fuck! Kakuzu why didn’t you step in?” 

“You asked me to stay out of it, Hidan.” 

To their collective horror, Hidan’s severed head was talking on the ground. 

“Fine. Next time, stay out of it unless it looks like my head is going to be chopped off!” He barked at his companion. 

_ Am I in a genjutsu right now? None of this is making sense.  _ Sasuke felt lightheaded.  _ This world is full of mysteries.  _

“Hidan. Wrap this up. I want his bounty.”

“Hmph. I’m working on it.”

He looked at Sasuke. “I’ve got another prize to focus on. Did you know you’re worth 25 million Ryo dead and 55 million Ryo alive? Apparently people can’t wait to get their hands on you, or your sharingan.” He stitched Hidan’s head back on. 

Sasuke’s blood ran cold.

* * *

Naruto paced anxiously outside of the Hokage’s doors. 

He had been training with Yamato near the waterfalls when he first received the news from a hysterical Sakura. 

Sasuke was missing. 

Plucked out of thin air right before Kakashi sensei’s eyes.

His stomach dropped at those words.

He immediately raced off to find Lady Tsunade. 

She was nowhere to be found. 

Sakura warned him that there was a big commotion in the Land of Fire, something to do with dead monks and the Akatsuki. That was definitely something to be concerned about, but Sasuke missing was occupying his every thought. 

Eventually he had found Tsunade, a bottle of sake deep and peering through some scrolls. 

He had berated her, for drinking during a time like this. He demanded to know what she was doing to find Sasuke. 

“The best of our jonin have left to track down the Akatsuki members. It is a critical concern that they have entered our borders, slaughtered a monastery, and now are on their way to find you. Sasuke is the least of my concerns right now. I know that’s painful to hear, but they could come knocking on our doors at any second, we have to prepare for that.” Tsunade barked at him. 

Naruto punched the wall and stormed out.  _ I can’t accept that.  _

He found Kakashi first, he was lying in his bed staring up at the ceiling. Naruto had chewed him out, for being useless in saving Sasuke and now for being useless in his bed. 

Kakashi let Naruto curse him out. He was feeling everything that Naruto was accusing him of.  _ How could I have let her go, slip through my fingers so easily.  _ His mind raced with awful thoughts of torture and assault and her inevitable death. 

He struggled with what Naruto was asking him, to leave the village and search for Sasuke. Tsunade had already  _ expressly _ forbade it. They needed strong shinobi here, in the village since so many were out already searching for the Akatsuki. 

He conceded. “I can’t forgive myself for letting her disappear out of my hands.” He clenched his fists shut. “I’ll come with you. We should take Sakura too, we might need a medic.”

“Already way ahead of you. I sent Sakura to gather up anyone interested in coming with us.” Naruto grinned cockily down at his sensei. 

They met at Ichiraku’s, trying to mask their true intentions in case Tsunade had her doubts that they would obey her orders and stay in the village. 

Sakura showed up with Hinata, Shino, and Kiba. A six man team was odd, but no one was better suited for this work than the tracking team 8. There was no way Kakashi could convince Sakura and Naruto to stay behind, so they would make it work. 

They nodded at each other and were about to leave when Rock Lee and Sai showed up. “We cannot leave a comrade in the hands of the enemy!” Lee shouted with enthusiasm, causing several people to look sideways at him. 

Sakura blushed and resisted the urge to put her head down in her hands.  _ What an absolute goof.  _

They breezed past the eastern gate of the village, where normally Izumo and Kotetsu would be keeping watch, and Kakashi summoned his ninken. Naruto took out a tank top that belonged to Sasuke. “I grabbed this before gathering everyone together. This should have her scent on it.” 

The ninken and Akamaru sniffed her shirt and dispersed. The tracking team continued on towards where Kakashi had last seen her. It would be a half days trip back to their hotel, but it was a starting point. 

However, Bull bellowed out 3 kilometers to their left. He had found her scent.

The team rushed over to him. He barked out and Pakkun translated. “She’s not far from here. Her scent is fresh. There are others with her. Others from Konoha. I recognize Asuma’s scent.”

The Sasuke retrieval squad looked at each other. With a flick of his wrist, Kakashi silently ordered them all to march forward. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Naruto and Sasuke are too caught up in what else is going on to focus on their feelings. Especially now that Sasuke knows the truth, or most of it at least. A lot has happened in the plot compared to where everything else is in the series but I plan to tie it all together.
> 
> Thank you for everyone who is reading, I’m glad people are able to get enjoyment and pass the time with my story!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intended to make this a shorter chapter to just tie up some details before jumping into next chapter’s confrontation with Itachi but that wasn’t the case. So please enjoy this full length chapter. It corresponds to about episode 80 of shippuden and the end of the chapter takes place around episode 89 for those curious about timeline.

“What did you say?” Sasuke asked in horror.

Kakuzu cracked his neck in delight. “We should be able to leave here with quite the haul, Hidan.”

Shikamaru’s brain was working overtime.  _ Is Kakuzu planning on joining the fight? Who should I focus on, Asuma or Sasuke?  _ He cursed aloud, causing his teammates to send him concerned glances.  _ Why did she have to appear here in the middle of the battle?  _

“Sasuke. I don’t suppose you have reinforcements coming this way?” He didn’t take his eyes off of Hidan.

She scowled, locked in a stare down with Kakuzu. “No.” 

“Dammit.”  _ What to do, what to do. I can’t help everyone at once! _

“Shikamaru.” Asuma’s voice rang out in a stern tone. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle him from here on out. Protect your other teammates.” 

Shikamaru felt his stomach drop.  _ No. You can’t do this alone.  _ “Asuma, don’t be foolish. He’s too strong!”

“Enough bickering back and forth.” Kakuzu interrupted and jumped into the air. 

“Don’t count us out!” Izumo and Kotetsu jumped into action, attacking Kakuzu in a barrage of jutsu, punches, and kicks.

At the end of their flurry, Kakuzu was caught in their sticky syrupy trap.

He clicked his tongue together in disgust.  _ The dry cleaning costs on this are going to be insufferable.  _

He broke through the hold of the sticky liquid. 

He detached his hands and sent them flying towards Izumo and Kotetsu capturing them both by the throats and squeezing hard.

Kakuzu rushed forward and moved to kick Sasuke straight in the face. She blocked and jumped up, striking back at him.

He ducked.

The two exchanged blows over and over again. Sasuke’s sharingan could barely keep up.  _ He’s not even using his hands!  _

She was vaguely registering what was going on with the others around her, but could not miss the bloodcurdling scream that came from Shikamaru as he yelled out, “Asuma!” 

It stopped her in her tracks. 

That was a mistake. Kakuzu landed a kick square in her chest, knocking the wind out of her. 

A black blur formed on the edge of her vision.  _ Dammit. I can't catch a break.  _

Kakuzu pulled his hands back from the throats of Izumo and Kotetsu, who both fell to the ground unconscious. He stepped forward to Sasuke who pushed through her haze and sent a fireball towards him. 

He dodged it easily but failed to notice the rolling human sized ball barreling towards him until it was too late to change course. 

The red ball knocked him down and then jumped towards Sasuke’s side. “Sasuke! What are you doing here? Are you okay?” Choji’s kind, concerned voice spoke down to her.

Back at Shikamaru’s side, Hidan flashed a peace sign and happily announced, “Mind transfer jutsu successfully completed!” 

He looked down at his scythe, buried a few centimeters deep in his stomach and chest. “Just in the knick of time too.” 

“Ino! Leave the circle!” Shikamaru shouted at her. She stepped outside the dark markings on the ground and Asuma quickly sprung forward, ripping the scythe out of her hands. “Ino, get back to your body!” He commanded. 

She obliged, slipping back into her body crumpled on the ground. 

Asuma took his chakra blades and slashed at Hidan arms, severing them at the elbow before he had time to readjust to being in his body.

“Fuuuuck. You fucking bitch! I’m gonna sacrifice you to Jashin along with this fucker!” He stared darkly at Asuma as he continued. 

He started attacking with his legs, pushing back against a weakened Asuma.

Sasuke felt the breath return to her lungs and pulled Choji out of the way of an angry Kakuzu. She rapidly activated her Chidori, jumping back and forth between the barrage of the Akatsuki members fists _there’s_ _my opening!_ and struck forward hitting him directly in the heart. He fell to the ground in a slump.

She kicked his body over with her foot, staring at his blank eyes. A dark inky pool of... something leaked out of him. He blinked a few times and popped back up.

Her eyes widened.  _ Is he immortal too? _

He narrowed his eyes and advanced forward, suddenly stopping in a lurch.

“Hidan. Did you hear that?”

He looked over at his partner, fighting intently against the two exhausted leaf shinobi. “I’m not done here!” He yelled in a craze. 

“Let’s go. The two tails needs to be sealed.” He paused, sensing his partner’s reluctance to leave. “We better understand their weaknesses now.” He turned to the shinobi. “Don’t move off too far, we’ll be back.” With that the two men jumped away, Hidan caught snuggly in Kakuzu’s hand wires,unable to escape. “I’m gonna kill you!” His voice could be heard as he was yanked away. 

“What the hell was that? Did they just leave?” Sasuke asked incredulously. 

Ino rushed forward to her sensei. “Asuma sensei! Let me heal you. Don’t move.” She assessed his body with concern.

“His scythe didn’t hit you too deeply but your stomach is tearing. If I don’t get to it quickly you’ll die.” She concentrated on him moving her hands across his stomach with her eyes screwed tightly shut. A green haze came out of her hands as she worked. 

Choji went to join his teammates at Asuma’s side.

Sasuke checked on Izumo and Kotetsu. Both were breathing but were passed out on the ground with red marks on their necks.  _ They’re alive but they’ll be hurting when they wake up. _

She sighed. 

“Saaaaaasuke!” She heard a concerned voice yell at her. She barely registered it before a bright orange body barreled into her, wrapping her in a hug. 

A pink and red blur followed shortly behind and she found herself wrapped in a warm group hug with her teammates.

“We were so worried!” 

“What happened?”

“Are you okay?”

“How did you escape?” 

A barrage of questions were thrown at her, quickly overwhelming her. 

Kakashi reached out to grab her hand and pull her up. “Sasuke. You’re alive.” He let his relief pepper his words.  _ Thank the heavens you’re alive. _

“Yeah. I managed to escape while he was distracted. It sounds like it was the same incident that took those two away.” She breathed out. 

“Those two?” Sakura asked.

“Ah. You missed them. There were two Akatsuki members. They were just called away to seal the two-tails.” She felt herself breathing heavy, unable to hold breaths deeply.

Sakura placed a hand on her in concern. “Did you get hit?”

Sasuke struggled to remember. “It feels like I’m stuck in a haze.” She slumped down a little. 

Naruto reached out to her, kneeling attentively at her side. “Sakura what’s wrong?” He asked in worry

“I’m not sure. Let me look her over.” She knelt down and began her assessment.

Hinata watched from a distance, carefully observing the distress in Naruto’s eyes and the concerned tremble of his hands. It caused a sharp pain to go through her chest. 

“Hey don’t worry, she’ll be alright. I didn’t think you two were close anyways?” Kiba attempted to comfort his teammate. Hinata blushed and quickly ducked her head down to hide the tears welling up to her eyes.  _ I won’t give up just yet.  _ She breathed in heartily through her nose and lifted her head back up. “I’ll be fine. Thanks Kiba.” 

Sakura quickly was drawn to her chest. “You guys, turn around!” She commanded pointing at the male members of the retrieval squad.

She undressed Sasuke’s top and held in a gasp at the caved in sight of her chest. 

Sasuke looked down and muttered in a daze, “Oh. He kicked me really hard, huh?” Her head fell backwards softly hitting the dirt and she stared blankly at the sky. 

“Hold on. This will be easy enough to mend, but it won’t feel great.” She quickly stitched her back up, realigning her sternum and fusing it together with chakra. Sasuke held back a scream at the pain. She felt the air enter her body freely, reenergizing her. Still, she couldn’t shake the haze clouding her mind. It felt almost like the tendrils of a genjutsu. But she had just been using her sharingan and didn’t notice a thing. She shook her head.  _ It’s just from getting kicked around, you’re paranoid.  _

Asuma groaned and shakily stood up. Ino and Choji clucked around him in concern. He chuckled at them and pulled all three of his students in for a hug. 

He sheepishly admitted, “Kurenai is pregnant. If I died here she would’ve killed me.” He laughed. 

Ino squealed in delight. “Congratulations!” Choji burst into tears, “That's so wonderful to hear sensei!”

Shikamaru simply shrugged. “That explains why you’ve been trying to quit smoking.” 

Kakashi pricked his ears up at that. “Asuma. Congratulations.” He looked him up and down, “looks like it was a pretty close call.”

The two men chatted aimlessly with each other as team 10 continued their cooing at the news.

Rock Lee knelt by Sakura after she gave the all clear. “That was wonderful work Sakura! You are truly amazing!”

“Thanks Lee.” She gazed warmly at him. “I appreciate you coming with us. This was important for me.” 

He brandished an extravagant thumbs up, “I could never leave a comrade behind!”

Through her haze Sasuke blurted out, “What are we doing about the Akatsuki members? I think I know where they headed. There’s an Akatsuki hideout not far from here.” 

Shino chimed in. “If you tell me where it is I can send my bugs there to confirm their location.” Sasuke nodded and told him the location, he held his arms out and a horde of bugs flew out. “Now we wait.” He told them. 

Kakashi came back over. “If we can pin down their location that’s great but we can’t engage them now. There are too many injured and Sasuke, you need to be interrogated.” He had a hint of pity on his eyes. “It’s standard procedure for kidnapped shinobi.” 

“I understand.” 

Naruto helped Sasuke stand up and frowned. “If you need help I can carry you back.” He didn’t like the thought of Sasuke going through an interrogation after what she had been through.

Sasuke sighed. “I should be fine. Sakura fixed me up pretty well.” 

“Okay.” He was still worried. Sasuke could see the concern bleeding through his facial features.

Shino spoke up. “My bugs have found the location and can confirm that there are two large chakras present. I didn’t encounter them before so I cant confirm that it is the Akatsuki members chakra but it seems likely.”

Kakashi nodded. “Sai. You stay here and monitor the location from afar. We will return once the Hokage has been briefed on the situation. Notify us of any changes.”

Sai nodded and flew away on an ink bird. 

The rest of the shinobi hauled up their injured members and began the trek back to Konoha.

* * *

Sasuke, much to Naruto’s distress, was immediately whisked away by the intelligence and interrogation corps. Kakashi had tried to tell him that it was standard, she had been taken hostage and may have been subjected to brainwashing or any other number of techniques intended to sway her loyalties.

Naruto couldn’t help but notice, or perhaps imagine, a devious glint in Ibiki’s eyes as he hauled the frail girl off.

He begged Tsunade to let him be with her while she undergoing her interrogation but Tsunade shooed him away. “You idiot! I have to focus on the two Akatsuki members within our borders that are essentially sitting ducks. Sasuke will be fine. Just be patient.” With that she slammed the door in his face and continued her conversation with Shikamaru.

Naruto anxiously watched as the water boiled in his electric kettle. He had been slamming bowl after bowl of instant ramen since coming home. He couldn’t help but keep track of the three minutes to boil the water, two minutes to let it cool, and ten minutes to eat it. It was now half an hour since he came home. That means Sasuke was in interrogation for 30 minutes plus his 15 minutes of begging Tsunade and Kakashi to do something, plus his 10 minute walk home. That was nearly an  _ hour.  _ He whined, trying to stop his mind from overacting. 

Suddenly there was a knock at his door. He flew to open it. “Sakura! Has there been any news?”

She held her hands up, holding him back. “I haven’t heard anything. I just though it would be a bit more bearable if we waited together.” His face dropped but he let her in. “Thanks Sakura. I’m pretty upset right now.”

He brought out a deck of cards and they quietly played a few hands before another knock at his door interrupted them.

“It’s unlocked! Come in!” Naruto yelled. 

The knob turned and in stepped Sasuke, looking tired but otherwise unharmed. 

Her teammates jumped up and embraced her. “How did it go?” Sakura asked, releasing her hold. Naruto held on tighter digging his fingers into her back with force. Sasuke patted his back lightly. “It went fine. It wasn’t too intense, Ino’s dad entered my mind and looked at what happened while I was gone. Ibiki didn’t even have to do anything, I was very cooperative.” She giggled a little. 

Sakura and Naruto looked over at each other, Sakura smiled weakly. “They must have given her some relaxants to lower mental barriers, she’ll be fine she’s just in a loopy mood, Naruto.”

Naruto looked his friend over in concern.  _ No marks or bruises, maybe she is fine? _

“Tsunade told me you’d be here waiting for me.”

“Yes, we were concerned, I asked her to send you over here when you were done.” Sakura forced herself to let the casual ‘Tsunade’ go  _ that’s our Hokage be a little respectful  _ and instead chose to blame it on her mental state rather than her disrespect. 

“Hn. You’re both sweet.” Sasuke looked around and laid down on the couch the two had been previously sitting on. “I just need to rest my eyes, then I can tell you all about it.” She murmured the last piece and fell asleep. In just a few more minutes her light snores would fill the room.

“I’ll go grab us all some dinner. She’s going to want food and lots of it when she wakes up.” Sakura headed to the door and sternly warned Naruto, “Don’t try anything while I’m gone!”

“I wouldn’t!”

Sakura laughed and quietly shut the door behind her, locking it into place with a  _ click. _

Naruto listened to her heels clack down the hall and reach the creaking stairway. When he was sure she was gone he sat himself down in front of Sasuke and laid his head next to hers on the cushion. He closed his eyes and laid his hand atop hers, his fingertips curling around to grasp her wrist. He waited for Sakura to return, peacefully listening to Sasuke’s breathing and feeling her heartbeat at the tip of his fingers 

* * *

Tsunade looked down at the report and felt the stress start to induce a vicious headache. 

“So. She was taken as bait to lure Naruto out and that is exactly what happened. He left, explicitly against my orders to chase after her.” She pushed her palms into her eyes and groaned.

“Tsunade, he’s a hot head but it worked out this time. Let me talk to him and explain the situation.” Jiraiya folded his arms and gently spoke to her. “He’s passionate but if he knows the risks, we can better prepare him.”

He poured her out a cup of sake and placed it in front of her. “You aren’t doing this alone. Just don’t let the elders get this report or I’m sure they’ll suggest something horrendous.” He chuckled. 

Tsunade sighed deeply amd called Shizune into her office. “Get me all of Sasuke’s recent mission files from Danzo. I'd like to review them.”

She turned to Jiraiya. “You.” She glared menacingly at the sage, “Go tell your brat of a student never to disobey like that again!”

Jiraiya sensed her foul mood and resisted the urge to make too dumb of a remark. “Try not to get too stressed out, Tsunade or you’ll turn into an old granny.” He hopped out the window and dodged the porcelain cup that followed him, aimed at his long trail of white hair.

* * *

Naruto wasn’t expecting to be called out on a mission so soon after coming back, but in the early morning hours Team Asuma, led by Kakashi, and Team Kakashi, led by Yamato, were called into the Hokage’s office. 

He had a long conversation with Jiraiya the night before about his feelings for Sasuke and the risks it posed. He understood where Pervy sage was coming from but he couldn’t promise that next time something happened to her or  _ any  _ of his teammates he wouldn’t race off. 

Jiraiya hadn’t liked that, but he had the sense to know that talking about it further would go nowhere. He would have to report back to Tsunade that Naruto was, in fact, a hot headed fool and that she ought to come up with her own control plan before the Elders posed the option of permanent containment within village walls for Naruto. 

“Shikamaru has made a plan. With any luck your teams will have eliminated two members of the Akatsuki by nightfall. He can get you up to speed with his plan on the way there. Head out now!” Tsunade slapped her hand against the table, signaling to the shinobi that they were to head out. 

Shizune watched as they raced away from the office. “Should I summon Sasuke m’lady?”

“No. Not yet. Let’s track down Danzo first.” Tsunade sipped at the tea in front of her.  _ It was going to be a long, long day. _

* * *

Sasuke woke up early the day after her interrogation. She still felt a little bit hazy but figured it was a side effect from the Yamanaka’s invasion into her mind. Or from the late night she spent with Naruto and Sakura before eventually crawling home at 2 in the morning.

She shuddered thinking about Inoichi’s in depth perusal of her thoughts the past few weeks. Thankfully he was tactful enough to not dwell on her intimate movie watching fiasco with Naruto.

Sasuke had kept her thoughts to herself, not that it would’ve mattered since Inoichi saw everything, and couldn’t help but feel like something was off.

The memories she had of her time in captivity felt so superficial. She had clear memories of it, but couldn’t seem to remember  _ experiencing _ it.

Tsunade called her in after lunch. Sasuke was not surprised to see Danzo by her side. 

_ This must be my official debriefing.  _

“Sasuke. I’m glad to see you’re doing well. Coming out alive after an attack by the Akatsuki is quite an impressive feat, and you’ve been in attack after attack  _ and _ a kidnapping.”

Sasuke forced her muscles not to tense up.  _ What are you trying to imply?  _

Tsunade smiled. Sasuke couldn’t help but be thrown off by it.  _ Is this the first time I’ve seen her smile at me? _

“So, let’s start with the first instance. Tell me, what were you doing near the Land of Rain in the first place?”

_ So Danzo hadn’t told her the truth. _

Sasuke looked to Danzo for confirmation. He nodded his head at a 45 degree angle. It was a nearly imperceptible movement but it was one of the first signals she had learned in ROOT. It meant lie, but pepper it with truth-the opponent knows something is up.

Sasuke looked back to Tsunade. “Two months ago I was in Kirigakure with another ROOT member. We returned the night of the attack on Konoha. During our time there we had heard whispers of a rogue ninja from their land who had affiliations with Akatsuki. Danzo took this information and sent me out with another team to verify who this rogue ninja might be. Unfortunately our intel wasn’t exact. The rogue ninja was actually a jinchuriki who fled from the fight while I was fighting against the Akatsuki member, Konan.” 

A brief second of familiarity passed across Tsunade’s face but quickly disappeared.

“I fought against Konan and had the upper hand temporarily. She admitted that their goal was to create a new world filled with peace. Where strife no longer existed and families would no longer be torn apart.” Sasuke reflected on their goal,  _ it sounded too idealistic.  _

“I’m not sure how gathering the tailed beasts plays into that because she then gained the advantage and I fell to an explosion. She signaled to another person and his jutsu somehow transported her away. My sharingan couldn’t figure it out. It’s like she just... vanished into the air.”  _ That would be Madara, but I can’t tell you that. _

Sasuke stopped and thought about that event,  _ it seems so long ago.  _

“I believe the man with her was the same one who took me when I was on a mission with Kakashi.” 

Danzo and Tsunade remained silent.

Tsunade suddenly slammed her fist down on her desk. “Dammit! Shizune send word to Tonbee. He’s in that area and with rogue ninja jinchuriki’s and Akatsuki members wallowing about we should make sure they’re all safe.”She glanced at Sasuke, who had a curious look on her face, “One of our old war allies has been acting as guard for a secret weapon, he mentioned a newcomer not too long ago, I’m worried it could be the jinchuriki you mentioned.”

Sasuke pondered those words.

“This Konan had a jutsu that allowed her to transform parts of her body into paper and reform. I have never seen anything like it.”

Tsunade rubbed her temples. “Shizune, summon Jiraiya here. I think he might have information on this situation.” She sounded defeated. 

_ That’s curious.  _ Sasuke wondered what it meant.  _ I’ll have to get Naruto to ask him for more information. _

“Then most recently the masked Akatsuki man with an orange mask took you from within our borders and the next day we had another two Akatsuki members in the Land of Fire. Not to mention we have two teams currently infiltrating an entire  **hideout** of theirs also within our borders.” Tsunade scrunched her face up. 

She whipped around to Danzo. “Are you so useless that you don’t have details about these things? How the hell did they get so entrenched in our own damn country?” She barked at the old man. 

The two squabbled back and forth. Sasuke and Shizune exchanged worried glances.  _ I see why Sakura’s anger problems are so explosive  _ Sasuke thought mirthlessly. 

Tsunade stopped her squabbling and waved Sasuke away with a flick of her hand. “You’re dismissed. No more missions for a while, until we can sort this whole thing out.”

Sasuke wanted to argue but a stern glare from both Danzo and the Hokage made her shut up. 

“Yes.” She bowed and left the office, seething once more. 

* * *

Sasuke remained blissfully unaware of the countdown occurring in her own mind. The days were passing by and she filled them with training, mostly with Fu or surprisingly Rock Lee, who was helping her rebuild stamina as she repaired her lung, reading, and cleaning her apartment that had become unbearably messy.

Sasuke had even met up with Anko who had mostly recovered from her fight with Kabuto and was taking on missions once more. 

It had been refreshing meeting up with her old sensei, it felt like a lifetime ago that she had seen her. 

Anko treated her to dumplings and they commiserated over their shared angst in failing missions. Although Anko was more concerned that her student had been taken and made a mental note to give Kakashi a piece of her mind when she next saw him. 

Sasuke felt like things were more or less back to normal. Even if she was seeing Fu, she wasn’t taking ROOT missions. 

She finally felt like she was out of her depressive episode. 

She couldn’t even  _ really _ remember what had sparked it in the first place. 

Obito waited patiently as she went about her days, sending Zetsu to pop his head in occasionally and see what she was up to.

He was satisfied with her normalcy, she kept any suspicion that may have fallen on her at bay with her mundane routine. The ANBU trailing her, which she seemed to notice but not mind, certainly were convinced by the end of the week that nothing nefarious was occurring.

Upon reaching the end of the week, Obito cleaned off his mask and found an uncrumpled cloak to put on before remaking his grand entrance.  _ I’m a showman if nothing.  _ He chuckled to himself, savoring the one part of his boisterous personality that still managed to remain after all these years. 

He hadn’t heard from Itachi yet. That was concerning. He had expected to deal with a barrage of fury from the angsty young man but it was silent. On the one hand, it was likely that he and Kisame were busy tracking down the four tails jinchuriki but with all his connections surely he would have heard of his sisters kidnapping by the Akatsuki. Even with the secrecy surrounding the event, losing your last true kekkai genkai user in such a manner would no doubt inspire a round of desperate attempts by neighboring nations, surely there were intel leaks in the leaf? 

Still, Obito didn’t pause to think about it for too long. If Itachi was staying out of his way then that worked out better.

Obito waited for nightfall before appearing in Sasuke’s darkened room. He activated his sharingan and waited for her to acknowledge his presence. 

She was about to remember everything and he was here to make sure her anger could be guided in the right direction.

* * *

Itachi held back a sneeze. He had been sitting in the rain for hours now.  _ Where’s Kisame? _

He was very nearly miserable. 

He hadn’t been able to shake the feeling of dread he had. For months now he had that feeling sit in his stomach. His first instinct had been to check on Sasuke. His informant, a weasley chunin working in administration at the Hokage’s office, would check up on her for an exorbitant price. Per his report, she was doing fine, minus a few hospital visits where she rebounded good as new. She was taking missions and still in the same little apartment granted to her after the clans downfall. In fact, she had just left for a mission with Kakashi last he heard. Itachi hadn’t been convinced by the chunin’s reports, which were superficial and desperately lacking detail, but was slightly comforted by her proximity to Kakashi. He was a good man and good captain, if she was still under his watch he supposed that things would be fine. 

Convinced that Sasuke was doing alright, his next thought was that someone was tracking him down. That was less concerning. He would be able to take down anyone, even with his declining health and eyesight.

In the end, he tentatively decided that his death was impending. Sasuke had been growing in strides and if she was as focused on revenge as he intended, she would seek him out soon. That was a slightly comforting thought, knowing his end was near. It would explain his ever present dread, he had always been sensitive in that way.

He had one lingering concern. His informant had stopped responding to his outreaches, even as Itachi offered him more and more money. Something had to have happened. Either to bolster that traitors pride in the village, or security had increased and reaching out was dangerous. Either option pointed to some internal strife developing and pouring over. 

It could easily be a result of Hidan and Kakuzu meddling in the Land of Fire, their methods were certainly gruesome to say the least. 

It could also be something more sinister. 

Itachi would have to ask Zetsu to poke around when they were back at base. Or he could reach out to Jiraiya under a false identity and trade information. He certainly had more than a few tantalizing secrets about the Akatsuki that the old sage would die to get his hands on. But that was risky. 

Kisame jumped down in a loud  _ thump  _ beside Itachi. He dropped the small hunched form of a middle aged man on the ground. “Let’s call everyone together. We can seal the four tails and move on to Konoha’s jinchuriki.”

Itachi didn’t respond.  _ Don’t let the paranoia destroy you, Itachi. The simplest answer is often the correct one. You sense your death and it’s making your mind race.  _

Still, he vowed to find out more information on Konoha’s affairs before they made their way back to his quiet little village. 

* * *

Sasuke rubbed at her neck, her fingers lightly grazing her curse mark.She vaguely stopped to wonder why all these powerful men were clamoring to help her. She was not stupid. Orochimaru clearly had his own reasons in doing so, he wanted her body. Or at least her eyes.

Danzo was a bit harder to figure out. He was handing her the keys to power but for  _ what _ ? If he intended to keep an eye on her, in case she ever learned the truth, why equip her with the skills to take him down? She thought in silence.  _ Hm, he must take me for a fool. He doesn’t think I’ll ever learn the truth and so wants to use me as a tool to keep his hold in the underbelly of Konoha. _

Madara was harder to figure out. Was it clan loyalty that brought him to her? Certainly he had helped out Itachi by working alongside him in the Akatsuki. But then again, Itachi had murdered the rest of the Uchiha, if loyalty was what motivated Madara a person like Itachi would surely be dead. Was it a desire to spread the truth? If so, then why would he be hiding in the shadows of an organization like the Akatsuki? Why not bring his knowledge to Tsunade or the citizens of Konoha. Certainly they would take action knowing their elders plotted the massacre of her clan. 

No, Madara was the one she couldn’t prescribe any reasoning to.  _ He has to be the one I stay wary of the most.  _

But that rationale didn’t stop her from feeling an intense closeness to the man, one of the last of her clan. She tried to deny it, but she knew she was already loyal to Madara.

Sasuke continued to graze her curse mark, moving to lightly massaging it.  _ Orochimaru is the one who pointed me in the direction to first find out this truth.  _

Her stomach twisted into knots.  _ Could he be an ally?  _ A current of electricity ran up her fingers and into her arm. She quickly pulled back from the curse mark . 

_ I cant ignore his devious actions, what he did to Anko, to this village. _

She stopped and pondered that.  _ No, this village allowed Anko to be taken advantage of by him, they allowed him to conduct his dark research, this village slaughtered my clan.  _

Her sharingan activated against her will, tinting her vision in red. 

_ I have to turn to him. _

She placed two fingers back on her curse mark.  _ No, before I go to him I have to talk to Naruto. If he’s committed to revenge like I am he will help me take down the elders. _

She slunk out of her bed and changed out of her pajamas.  _ It’s now or never. _

She breathed in deeply and ran off to find Naruto.

* * *

“What do you mean he left?” Sasuke exclaimed in exasperation.

“Team Kakashi left on a mission to lend backup support to Team Kurenai, ironically with Yamato leading team Kakashi and Kakashi leading team Kurenai.”

Ino shook her head,  _ what nonsense.  _ She had considered herself lucky when her and Sasuke’s paths crossed on the street. Ino had just gotten done at the hospital, a job she detested and likely wouldn’t continue in-she just had to break the news to Sakura, and saw Sasuke milling about the street. She had seemed...intense but Ino still ran up to her like old friends do.

“I’m not sure when Naruto will be back, but it likely won’t be for a while.”  _ And with Sakura gone maybe we can finally get some alone time. _

“I see.” Sasuke turned back on her heel sharply. Ino attempted to shout out after her, “Did you want to grab dinner?” But Sasuke ignored her.  _ Looks like I am on my own. _

* * *

Sasuke returned to her room. She thought hard about how she should proceed.

She pressed into her curse mark, her fingertips pushing into the chakra and causing an uneasy dark feeling to wash over her.

She actively sought the source of the darkness, connecting her mind to a part of Orochimaru’s subconscious.

_ I need to speak with you.  _ Her voice resounded in her mind.

After a moment she heard a response.

A slithering raspy voice akin to Orochimaru’s but much more frail answered, speaking directly in her head.  _ Oh? I didn’t think you’d be one to reach out. To what do I owe the pleasure?  _

Sasuke shuddered at his voice so eery in her mind.  _ I need you to track down Itachi for me.  _ She paused.  _ And what do you know about Uchiha Madara?  _

_ Hmmm. So demanding. Well, Itachi is perfectly easy to find. However, I will admit I’m curious about your interest in Madara. I can tell you what I’ve heard but you must do something for me. _

Sasuke bit the inside of her lip, expecting that he would make a request.

_ What do you want from me? _

_ The sharingan.  _

_ Like hell I’d do that.  _ Sasuke spat out at him. 

_ It doesn’t have to be yours, but if you are going after Itachi, you can give me his when you kill him. Unless you want to carry around a traitor's eyes but I doubt you’ll have any use for them. _

Sasuke thought. It disgusted her to pawn her clans precious eyes, especially to someone like Orochimaru. But if it brought her closer to revenge, she would have to make that sacrifice. 

_ Fine. _

_ Perfect.  _ His raspy voice practically purred at her.  _ I’ll reach out to my spies and see what I can find. Expect news by tomorrow night.  _

His subconscious receded from her, pulling the dark, evil aura of his chakra away with him. 

Sasuke shuddered. 

_ What am I doing? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took some liberties with the ability of the curse mark but if he leaves essence of himself in each mark (hence how he was able to get resurrected later in the series) it seems like he would be able to connect somehow subconsciously.
> 
> Also, big plot divergence I kept Asuma alive. It was close but even just stalling Hidan for a few minutes allowed Ino to save their sensei. His loss was transformative for Shikamaru in particular but I think that even being in a situation where he felt so helpless will help spur him on towards self improvement and adulthood.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a bit more angst than the others. Sasuke finally confronts Itachi and neither really knows how to deal with it.

The next morning Sasuke awoke in mild fear.  _ Am I really about to do this? _

She quickly squashed down that fear, and focused on planning. 

_ At most I’ll have maybe three days before someone comes to check on me. With Team 7 gone, I’ll have better odds of leaving without notice. I haven’t noticed an ANBU presence either, they likely concluded nothing was out of sorts. _

Sasuke twisted her washcloth out in the sink and rubbed her face vigorously.

_ I should try to meet up with Ino today. One last appearance before I disappear for the next few days, especially with my behavior leaving her in a rush last night after asking about Naruto. It would raise too many suspicions to leave it like that. _

Sasuke huffed and looked at her face in the mirror. A red, raw face looked back at her. 

She remembered one of her first nights here, alone, staring desperately at her reflection. She remembered shattering the mirror and laying in anguish at the slightest hint of Itachi in her features. 

_ It doesn’t matter why or how. He killed my family and now I’m going after him.  _

She ignored the twisting in her stomach at the thought of killing him.

_ It’s time I end this. _

She slipped on her clothes, proudly displaying the Uchiha fan on the back of her oversized white knit sweater, and stepped outside into the cold morning air. Sasuke held back a shiver and made her way to the Yamanaka’s flower shop.

She was glad she slipped her boots on this morning, in lieu of the standard open toed sandals issued to all Leaf shinobi. Sasuke tried to place a date to the current day but found she could not remember. 

The last months had passed in a haze. She vaguely remembered Naruto’s birthday, but she had been in Kirigakure for that occasion. She heard from Sakura later that the boys went to his house for cards and Hinata timidly dropped off a batch of cupcakes outside his door. 

Sasuke faltered in her steps, failing to notice an ice patch on the pavement. 

_ December.  _ Her mind eventually provided. Sasuke shook her head.  _ I’ve wasted so much time. _ She pushed down the sudden spike of anxiety that rose in her.  _ Don’t focus on that, you’re making your move now. _

She reached the flower shop and opened the door, savoring the warmth that sprung to meet her.

She briefly closed her eyes and inhaled, melting in the soothing smell of greenery around her.

“Good morning! How may I help you dear?” An older woman with brown hair tied up tightly in a bun asked her. 

“I’m looking for Ino. Is she working today?” Sasuke assumed, rightly, that the woman in front of her was Ino’s mom.

“Oh you must be one of her friends then. Hmm. Let’s see. Ino went to buy a present for her sensei, he’s having a baby you see.” She clapped her hands together and sighed. “Such a cute family they are.”

Sasuke felt the corner of her lips curl up  _ Yes, that’s right, she’s pregnant. I’m happy for Kurenai and Asuma. But I wonder what you’d think if you knew his father stood by while Danzo and Itachi exterminated my clan. _

Sasuke instinctively clenched her fists and quickly hid them behind her back.  _ You aren’t supposed to be attracting attention. Act normal.  _

“I don’t suppose you know which store she went to? Or when she’ll return?” Sasuke asked casually. 

Ino’s mother tapped her chin. “I believe she went to the market downtown. I’m not sure which stores specifically though.” Her mother shrugged apologetically.

“That’s fine. I can find her from there.” With that Sasuke disappeared in a  _ poof  _ relocating atop the roof.

She bounded over to the market and quickly found Ino. It wasn’t hard to spot the only person wearing a crop top amongst the bundled up crowd. 

“Hey. I blew you off yesterday. Let’s do something today.” Sasuke stated, jumping down from her vantage point. Ino jumped in place next to her. 

“Why so stealthy, I nearly dropped this frame!” Ino complained and waved an empty picture frame adorned with baby rattles in Sasuke’s face.

“You’re getting rusty.” Sasuke teased, smirking at the blonde. “But I mean it. Let’s hang out.” 

Ino rolled her eyes. “You’re hopeless. Let me check out and we can get coffee.”

Ino bought the frame and led Sasuke to a cafe across the street. 

They ordered at the counter and sat down in a booth. 

“So Asuma is going to have a kid? That must be exciting.” Sasuke asked as she dug through the bowl of single serve creamers.

“Yes! He and Kurenai are so cute! Plus she’s starting to get real big and swollen and he’s so protective of her as she waddles around. Ugh, I’m so excited.” Ino wiggled in her seat and continued to chat animatedly.

Sasuke let her drone on, making sure a semi interested look stayed plastered on her face. She was glad her friend would have something new and exciting to fixate on, but couldn’t help but be distracted by her impending mission. 

“Here you girls go, one black coffee and one vanilla soy latte. Enjoy!” The waiter gently set their drinks down. 

Sasuke grabbed her coffee and poured a container of creamer into her cup, swirling it until it turned a shade lighter.

She felt the guilt course through her.  _ Can I really sneak out of the village? Can I really take down Itachi? What would people do if they knew I asked Orochimaru for help?  _

That part especially was causing Sasuke to second guess her plan.

“Hey. Are you okay? You’re quieter than normal.” Ino reached across the tabletop and grabbed her hand. 

Sasuke pulled back gently and rubbed the top of her hand under the table. “I’m fine.” She quickly offered up an explanation, “just bummed about being pulled from missions for the next while.”

Ino nodded understandingly. “It won’t be forever.” She smiled warmly at Sasuke. 

_ Ino. Thanks for your friendship. _

Sasuke finished drinking her coffee and let Ino yammer on a bit longer. Eventually she interrupted. “I have to get going soon, I still want to get some training done today.” 

Ino nodded and gave her a hug goodbye before parting ways.

Sasuke lowered her head and walked back slowly to her apartment, choosing to use her legs without the added chakra propelling her along. 

_ It’s now or never. Time to see what Orochimaru found out.  _

* * *

Sasuke slipped off her boots and promptly pulled on a pair of house slippers. She walked over to her thermostat and cranked the heat up. 

She looked towards her bedroom door and then quickly darted into the kitchen to tidy up and put the clean dishes away.  _ Looks clean in here, but can you really be too tidy?  _ She moved on to the living room and reorganized the magazines on her coffee table. 

With a  _ humph  _ she stopped.  _ It’s time to stop avoiding this. _

She apprehensively walked into her bedroom and saw an envelope sitting on her bed.

She opened it with shaky hands and read.

_ Itachi has just finished sealing the four tails, him and his partner are headed towards Konoha. You can intercept him near the Uchiha Hideout. How fateful. _

_ I have information on Uchiha Madara. I can tell you more in person when the eyes are delivered to me. _

She read it over again.  _ That’s it? _

With a sigh she placed the note down and placed her head between her knees. Her heart raced and she focused on slowing down her breathing.

_ I need to see Granny Cat. _

* * *

Sasuke paced around the edge of the village walls. To the unobservant bystander, she appeared to be going for a walk.

What she really was waiting for, however, was the changing of guards at the east entrance. Izumo and Kotetsu, who knew her and knew she was supposed to stay in Konoha, would soon be replaced by a newly promoted chunin duo. 

They would likely not recognize Sasuke and would continue to not recognize her as long as she didn’t use her sharingan.

Leaving would be easy enough, it was sneaking back that would pose an issue. Security had certainly increased since Orochimaru’s last attack.

_ But not enough to keep a highly determined Jonin from quietly creeping in.  _ She smirked to herself. 

To leave, she knew if she simply jumped the wall in the middle of night under the cover of darkness, the barrier would alert guard members. That would be no big deal if she wasn’t planning on returning, however once Itachi was killed she… well she didn’t know exactly but returning to the only place she had called home seemed to be the option that made the most sense. 

The only way to leave was to leave out the front entrance.

The new chunin came and sat down in the guard box, relieving Izumo and Kotetsu.  _ Perfect.  _

She walked up to the entrance and casually attempted to stroll out. She took a few steps out of the entrance and, hearing nothing, continued on the path to Sora-ku.  _ That was too easy. Tsunade should step up security, no wonder we get attacked every few years.  _ She frowned at the thought, but appreciated that it worked out in her favor.

The trail to Sora-ku darkened her mood, providing her with a hefty dose of nostalgia, considering the reason she was headed there in the first place. 

Blinking back tears Sasuke remembered her mother’s first unofficial mission for her, delivering a secret envelope to Granny Cat. It had been her first errand that would eventually lead to a closer relationship with the mysterious Granny Cat, who had successfully steered Sasuke away from an empty and joyless childhood post massacre.

_ Her words helped me realize my place was in Konoha, not with Orochimaru following the chunin exams.  _ She ignored the guilt coursing through her. _ Now look at me.  _

She bit down on her lip, drawing blood.  _ No. I can’t let Itachi get away with his actions. Orochimaru is simply a venue for information. I am not loyal to him or reliant on him for power.  _

She pushed down her feelings.  _ This had to happen sooner or later. _

Sasuke found herself in front of the abandoned building and opened the door, specks of rust flaked off from the hinges as she did so. Her feet led the way through the maze of hallways leading her to the ornate door holding Granny Cat. 

And the Uchiha weapon stockpile.

She knocked on the door and a scratchy old voice beckoned her inside.

“Oh Sasuke? It’s been a while. Over a year at least.” Granny Cat hummed out and puffed on her pipe.

“I apologize. My duties as chunin kept me very busy, and then once I got promoted I could not find one spare moment to come out.” Sasuke bowed her head. 

“So. What brings you here today? Did you come by to help feed the cats? My knees have been aching in this terrible cold, it’s so tough getting out everyday.”

Sasuke closed her eyes and shook her head somberly. “I come for a much more serious reason. I need access to the Uchiha stockpile. I intend to kill Itachi.”

With that the atmosphere shifted in the room. 

Granny Cat stared at her in silence. “It’s a sad day. I felt that it was coming, even as a little girl you always wanted revenge against him.” She let out a long sigh. “To see the last two remaining Uchiha fight to the death.” She shook her head. “I never thought I’d see the day.” 

Sasuke didn’t respond.

She chose her words thoughtfully. “I appreciate your guidance over the years, but this is something I must do. Itachi does not deserve to breathe another breath while our mother is dead in the ground because of him.” 

Sasuke didn’t say that in recent weeks she had tried to envision her mothers face and could only remember it in an unfocused fashion, the features disappearing the more she attempted to focus on them. 

She didn’t say that the more she tried to remember the sound of her father’s voice the less she could remember it. 

She didn’t say that the most vivid memories she had were of her family being killed, replayed over and over to her courtesy of Itachi’s genjutsu. 

She didn’t say that her fading memories of once bright happy people were a recent source of guilt, and in the past few weeks had increased her motivation to seek out revenge. 

Granny Cat sighed and pointed her towards a crawl space hidden behind a stack of books.

“Go through there. Take what a you need. I won’t stop you. If you survive, please come back. We haven’t been close recently but I still care about the kind hearted girl who brought me that stray kitten who wouldn’t have made it on its own. I want to make sure  _ she _ survives what happens next. Can you do that for me?” 

Sasuke nodded, grimacing down at the ground.  _ I don’t think she exists anymore, Granny. I’m sorry. But I promise I’ll come back. _

Granny Cat waved her on and Sasuke crawled into the room just beyond where they were. 

She gazed at all the weapons stockpiled in the years before her clan's demise.  _ There’s so much here! _

She sorted through the kunai and shuriken, picking out the sharpest. She grabbed a summoning roll and carefully transcribed the markings for wires, swords, and additional shrunken into it.  _ You can never be too prepared, especially not with an opponent like Itachi. _

She wrapped her wrists in bandages containing markings for even more weapons. 

Finally, she grabbed a handful of food pills and stuck them in her pouch. _ I’ll need this to replenish my strength, I’m certain he won’t be an easy opponent. _

When she was satisfied with her haul she crawled back to say goodbye to Granny Cat. 

“I’ll be on my way now.” She purposefully avoided eye contact and walked towards the door.

“Sasuke. Once this is done, will you be happy? What’s your plan after revenge? I’m curious to know.” It was a question that had been weighing heavily on the elderly woman’s mind since Sasuke’s arrival. 

Sasuke breathed in through her nose. “I don’t know.”

“Okay dear.” She sighed.  _ It’s not your business _ , she chided herself feeling dismayed. 

She watched Sasuke leave and held back the sadness threatening to creep into her. 

* * *

Sasuke’s mind was in overdrive her entire way to the old Uchiha Hideout. 

She still hadn’t unearthed Madara’s true intentions and Orochimaru was keeping tight lipped until she could bring him a pair of sharingan.  _ Cheap bastard.  _

She didn’t want to believe Madara, but his story made sense, it would explain Danzo’s use of her clan’s eyes. It would explain the massive stockpile of weapons the Uchiha were amassing in secret. 

_ What if Madara was telling the truth?  _

It wasn’t what she wanted to believe, and truth be told it lit a hope in her that she desperately tried to drown out. 

_ What if Itachi hadn’t wanted to kill our family? What if Danzo made him do it?  _

_ No. Stop it. _ She cursed at herself. 

_ It doesn’t matter. He still killed everyone I love. My parents, my little cousins, children, _ she stopped herself as tears started to well up. 

_ It doesn’t change anything. I don’t even know if Madara was telling the truth.  _

Still those questions, and the silent hope that her brother wasn’t a cold hearted demon from hell, plagued her the whole way to the Hideout. 

Try as she might, she dared not entertain those thoughts but somewhere deep in her subconscious she couldn’t stop the thoughts from racing. 

She screwed her eyes shut and forced her mind quiet.

* * *

Itachi always had discomfort passing this close to Konoha and this time was no different. 

He had reached out to trade information with Jiraiya but received no response. 

_ That solidifies my fear that something sinister is happening in Konoha. Coming to retrieve the nine-tails now will add undue stress to the situation.  _

Still, he could not find a way to dissuade Kisame. 

Itachi tried to parse out the locations of the other jinchuriki, hoping that another team would call them together for extraction and give Konoha some more time to sort out their issue, or at least get a sense of their presence. 

To his chagrin, no such stroke of luck seemed to be in the works. 

Kisame suddenly perked his head up. “Oh? Samehada tells me we have a visitor approaching. Tastes a lot like your chakra too. Hmm… I wonder who that could be.” 

Itachi’s heart beat furiously in his chest.  _ Is this it? Is Sasuke coming to kill me? _ He felt simultaneous relief and dread. 

_ It would be one way to ensure that Kisame and I don’t come knocking on Konoha’s doors for Naruto, I would be dead _ . 

_ Plus, Sasuke would have her revenge. Maybe then she could focus on living a happy life.  _

Still, as much as he believed he deserved death meeting it head on was nerve wracking. 

He stopped moving. “Kisame. Let me handle this. It will only distract us for a few hours. Don’t interfere.” 

Kisame nodded and Itachi disappeared in a wave of crows.

* * *

Sasuke felt the ominous chakra approach her and she stopped, activating her sharingan. 

“Itachi.” She glanced at his clone, seeing straight through him with her sharingan. “I’m not here to fight a clone. Where are you?”

“I’m not far from here, I’ll meet you wherever you choose. Just tell me.”

“Wait in the Uchiha Hideout. It seems you are well on your way there. I think it’s time to end this game, don’t you?” Sasuke sliced through his clone, sending him away and continuing on her path. 

_ This is it.  _

_ This is it.  _

_ This is it. _

* * *

Sasuke stared in determination at the faded fan above the doorway.  _ Mother. Father. Shisui. Everyone. I will avenge you. _

She stepped into the hall and made her way to the center of the hideout.

With each step she resolved to end this, end Itachi, and bring honor back to her clan.  _ I don’t care if they were attempting a coup, I don’t care if Danzo ordered you to do it. They were OUR family. How could you do that? _

She took one last deep breath in and steeled her nerves, gathering up her anger for strength. She turned the corner and looked him straight in the eyes. 

“Sasuke.” His one word greeting echoed throughout the empty cavern. 

His word hung there for a moment, silence was the only thing that responded to him.

Whatever notions Sasuke had of her confrontation with Itachi dissolved upon seeing him..

Now, watching his platonic face stare straight through her she felt her anger start to slip away. 

“I assume you are here to try and kill me, no?”

Sasuke opened her mouth, “Itachi. I’m working for Danzo now. I think I understand a bit about him, and maybe you.” It wasn’t what she wanted to say, not the speech she had planned out for years in plotting her revenge.

She had every expectation that in their meeting she would be furious, that the strength of her ancestors would fuel her power and his death would be swiftly given. But now all she could do was stand there and let her mind race with what if’s. 

_ Stop it! Nothings changed! Even if he did kill them on Danzo’s orders he could have disobeyed or fought back or done something to change the outcome!  _ Her heart raced.  _ Are you stupid? Of course it changes everything and you’re just now letting yourself realize that!  _

“Is that so.” Was his monotonous response.  _ Apparently he did not keep his promise to me. That’s unfortunate for him.  _ Itachi felt a spike of anger arise.

“I know that you killed the clan on his orders. That you spared me.” She silently asked, W _ hy? Could it be that you really love me? _

Her mind flashed with the memory of a young Itachi sweeping her off her feet and planting a kiss on her cheek after she came home from academy. He had heard the good news, she was top of her class! “I’m so proud of you, Sasuke.” It was more acknowledgement than her father had given her.

She pushed that thought to the back of her mind. "Do you love me?”

It was not a question she had ever expected to be asking him.

The silence was deafening. Itachi held his breath in and then let out a steady, controlled chuckle. “Foolish little sister. You’re so weak minded.” Itachi frowned, masking the true pain he was feeling at that moment. 

“No matter what you think my orders were, I enjoyed slaughtering our family. They were too weak to defend against me and they deserved to die.” He sat back in the carved throne behind him. “In the shinobi world only the strong make it. I thought I taught you that lesson well but apparently not.”

He crossed his legs.

“Itachi.” Sasuke started and choked back her words.

“It’s not out of love that I spared you. It was out of necessity.” He activated his Mangekyo sharingan and glared at her. “I need your eyes. Even now you’re a complete failure, coming before me with those weak eyes. I had thought you would cling to power and hand me something useful when the time came but I see now that I was wrong.” He sneered down at her. 

“Pathetic. I should have killed you along with father and mother.” He sighed. “I’ll still take them. Eventually I will lose my sight and it’s better to have your weak sharingan than nothing at all.”

He gave her a mocking pitiful smile. “I’ll let you make the first move, how about that? You’ll need a head start, I assure you.” 

He waited patiently for Sasuke to make a move. She stood there. 

“Very well. I’ll pluck them from you right where you stand.” He moved toward her and pinned her against the wall. 

With one hand he plunged his fingers into her eye socket and pulled out her eye. She barely croaked out a groan before spitting up vomit. He swiftly moved and plucked out her other eye before tossing her to the ground with a  _ thump. _

She rested her head against the stone wall of the cavern.  _ I can’t do this. I wanted to be strong but I can’t. This isn’t like the last time I encountered him. Why can’t I fight him? Why do I feel so empty right now? Why can't I make my body move? _

She moved her head in his general direction and released a burst of chakra, ending the genjutsu. 

“So you finally saw through that. Or maybe you’re a masochist? I wonder if the pain will feel the same in this world as my illusion.” He stood up.

Sasuke removed her sword and pointed it at him. “I wanted to believe it, Itachi. That it wasn’t you. I still can’t believe it sometimes.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I hated you as much as I could, I focused on revenge, I trained and I got stronger. Yet the instant someone told me you might have been even the slightest bit innocent in this, I believed them. Fully. I can't hate you like you want me to.” She dropped her sword to the ground in a clatter. _I tried to deny it, tried to bury it but it's true. Subconsciously I believed every word Madara said, deep down I believed someone forced you to do that._ _I needed to believe it._

“I won’t fight back.” She let her statement echo in the cavern.  _ I came here with every intention to but... I can’t do it.  _

She looked in his eyes.  _ Guarded as ever.  _

“I know you want me to, but I won’t. Please, just take my eyes and go. I won’t try to fight it. Please Itachi.” She sat down against the wall. “Please, just take them and leave.” She dropped her head between her knees and felt the tears flow down her cheeks.  _ I have no will to fight you, brother.  _

She thought of Shisui’s smile, spread ear to ear as he ruffled Itachi's hair.

She thought of Itachi, cooking an extravagant meal for her while their parents were out of town. He had paid special attention to the crab, making sure to crack open the legs for her since her hands were too soft and too small for such a hearty job. He poked her dead center on her forehead after doing so. She had complained his buttery hands would give her a pimple. Itachi just laughed. 

She thought of Itachi crawling into bed with her one night after a month-long mission. She had pretended to be sleeping but he had likely seen through that. She ignored his silent tears as they fell down his face and into her hair. She gave him an extra long hug in the morning and begged him to get dango with her. She never liked it but it was his favorite.

Her quiet tears were growing, building up into a full body sob.

Itachi stood at the opposite end of the room, just watching her.

“I won’t make it that easy for you.” He quietly threatened her.

He slowly walked over to her and picked her up, just to slam her backdown a moment later. “I will make you fight back.” He kicked her in the face. 

_ Why Sasuke? Why are you doing this? It’s not supposed to be like this. _

He put her in another genjutsu, stabbing her eyes with a kunai.

She released it.

Another genjutsu, her guts spilled on the floor.

She released it.

Another genjutsu, her fingernails tore off and her throat ripped out.

She released it.

“Itachi. Stop this. Can you not feel it’s useless? No matter what you continue to put me through I won’t fight back.” Her dull eyes tried to focus on him, but struggled to do so after her exertion.

Itachi let his hands fall to his sides and felt the panic slowly rise in him until it overwhelmed him.  _ Her will, I sense no fight in her, it’s useless. I can’t stomach torturing her with no end in sight.  _ In gasping breaths he attempted to calm down.

“Sasuke. Why are you doing this? You can’t let me live.” He clawed at his face, “I don’t deserve to live! Why can’t you see that? I did it. I did everything. I sacrificed our  _ family  _ for Konoha. I killed mother, I killed father, I killed so many. You were supposed to avenge them and kill me. Why couldn’t you just do that?” He dropped his head into his hands.

“Itachi.” Sasuke propped herself backup against the wall and wiped the blood from her nose. “I want you to tell me what happened. Please. I can only trust you, now. Please, brother, don’t lie to me any longer. What happened that night?”

The silence crept between them. After what felt like an eternity, Itachi looked up.

He let a deep breath out in a low sigh and locked eyes with Sasuke. “What I did, I did to keep Konoha safe.”

With that, his composure broke. His shoulders sank and in a defeated voice he revealed everything to her. He started from the night of the nine tailed demon’s attack and continued, telling her about ANBU and meeting Madara and then slaughtering the clan on Danzo’s orders.

Sasuke sat silently against the wall. She tried to form any type of coherent thought and failed to do so. 

She dropped her head in her hands and screamed.

Itachi watched her apprehensively.

She stopped screaming and lifted her head up. Her eyes were burning bright red and her tomoe were transformed. Itachi widened his eyes in surprise.  _ The Mangekyo sharingan! _

“Why? Why did you listen to him? Why did he tell you to do that? Why didn’t they try to find a different way?!”

“Sasuke, it may be hard to believe since you never lived through a war, but this was the alternate to a brutal civil war that would leave much more destruction and hate in its wake. Countless others would have suffered if the coup was to happen. I’m sorry it was like this.”

“I don’t care about other people’s suffering! What about you? What about me? Our family? They didn’t deserve that! Why couldn’t they find a solution that didn’t involve killing everyone? I despise that place.” She dropped her head into her hands, feeling woozy from the rush of information and the massive chakra sucked out of her and into her eyes. 

“Sasuke. I understand this is all new information. But please try to refrain from bad mouthing the village, they have done much to protect you in my absence. If you hold onto hate now, it will make it harder to go back.” He attempted to calm her down, unsure of what power his words would still hold over her. 

“I refuse to go back! That place destroyed both of our lives.” She dug her nails deep into the palms of her hands, drawing blood. 

“Sasuke.” Itachi started in his quiet, chiding, brotherly tone. “It does no good to give up on our home, the place our ancestors built, the place our roots will continue to be far into the future. Please go back, I beg you.”

Sasuke stared at him, dumbfounded. “What are you saying? Who cares?! Our ancestors are dead. Our clan is dead. Our future is dead. Konoha took that from us. I will not go back. I hate the village!”

“Sasuke, you don’t hate the village. A lot has happened and you’re upset. Maybe let’s just take some time to process everything. Trust me this wasn’t my plan either.” He looked at her pleadingly. 

“You don’t know how I feel! I hate what they did to you. To us!” She moaned in pain. “I want to burn that place to the ground for what they did.”

Itach grew deadly silent. “Stop it. If you keep talking like that I’ll put you in a genjutsu and force you back to Konoha. You belong there.”  _ Why is none of this turning out how I wanted? Why is everything so wrong? What do I do now? _

Sasuke curled her lips back and snarled out, “You spent so much time lying to me and now you want to take away my choices? I want to stay here with you.”

“That’s impossible.” His mind raced with millions of scenarios of how to proceed, but for the first time since leaving Konoha, he was at a loss for what to do. Nothing had prepared him for this being a possible outcome.  _ I was supposed to die, you were supposed to be a hero. What do I do now?  _

“Itachi. I want to be with you. And if I return to the village you-“ she choked off her words and let out a guttural scream.

_ If I return to the village with you, you’ll be killed immediately.  _ **_Danzo_ ** _ would kill you immediately. Before the truth could come out. _

She paused, her anguish momentarily silenced.  _ Danzo is still in the village. He killed my clan and he is still in the village like it was nothing to him.  _

Sasuke took a few deep breaths and composed herself. She felt a new purpose overtake her. _I can still avenge my clan, this time against the man who truly deserves it._

_ I have to return to the village. I have to kill Danzo. _

Itachi felt Sasuke regain her composure.  _ Good. Is she starting to realize I’m right? She needs to go back to Konoha and act like nothing happened here today. At least until I can make a new plan.  _

“You’re right. I have to return to the village. I overreacted.” She pushed down her rage.  _ Hold onto this for later.  _ She didn't take the time to examine why she was becoming so good at turning her emotions on and off, or what the potential impact of having such an ability might be. For now, it was helping her deceive Itachi and it would let her live amongst the village and her shinobi companions until the time was right to unleash her rage. 

“That’s a wise choice, sister.”

“Itachi, how will I see you again? Now that I know the truth I can’t bear the thought of leaving you.” She looked up at him with sad eyes. 

“Don’t worry Sasuke, we will see each other again. Do you realize you’ve awakened your Mangekyo sharingan? I have so much to teach you.” 

Sasuke lifted her hands to her eyes in shock. She pulled out a kunai and looked at her eyes in the reflection. “How? I didn’t kill anyone?” 

“Some Uchiha interpret the stone tablets inscription to include witnessing the death of a close companion rather than killing one.”  _ An unfortunate misinterpretation for those close to the particularly power hungry.  _

“That still does not make sense. I have not even witnessed death recently, much less the death of a close companion.” 

“I’m not sure, Sasuke. I will look into it, but a lot of our clan secrets have disappeared.” The reason for why that was the case remained unspoken between them. 

“How will I see you again, Itachi? This isn’t something I can exactly learn on my own, and asking Kakashi would open myself up to a whole slew of questions I don’t want to answer.” 

Itachi thought for a moment. “It’s too risky for me to sneak back into the village, especially with a new Hokage who could have changed the barrier passcodes. I’ll have my crows monitor your house. When you leave for a mission, put a vase of flowers with three yellow carnations in the window sill. Then I’ll know to come seek you out, outside of the village borders where it’s safer. It means we won’t see each other often, but it’s the safest way to do it.” He pulled his sister in close  _ my god you’ve grown Sasuke  _ and poked her on the forehead.  _ Whatever gods are out there, thank you. Thank you for bringing her to me as a sibling one last time. I don’t care what new issues this brings into my life, I can deal with them to be able to hold her like this again.  _

Sasuke inhaled deeply, smelling his metallic  _ blood?  _ earthy scent. She pulled him closer, into a hug. She felt the hairs rise at the nape of her neck. He was deadly, even as her brother. Being so close to him caused her body to go on high alert.

He was a true shinobi, _ a true killer. _ She pushed those thoughts away.

_ He is still my brother. I wasted so many years hating him, I can't be impacted by the choices he was forced to make all those years ago and what his criminal lifestyle forced him into. _

He let his arms drop to his side. Sasuke tightened her grip. "I don't want to go." She felt the tears well up in her eyes.

“You have good people on your side. Naruto thinks the world of you, he would go to any length to help you. Cherish him and your friendship.” Sasuke felt her cheeks heat up.

“That girl Sakura seems loyal as well. And I know Kakashi is an excellent man. He was the best ANBU captain at the time. He never left a man behind. With them all in your corner, you can do great things. Whatever happens from here on out, I want you to be happy." 

Sasuke was immediately struck by a memory of her mother many years ago, slicing up an eggplant and saying to her daughter,  _ I want you to be happy. _

_ Mother. Maybe now that is possible.  _

Sasuke felt the thoughts break past her mental barrier. This new information, this truth, opened up a whole new path for her. 

_ So. Madara was the second person assisting with the massacre. Why? This makes it even harder to understand his motivation. I feel as though I’m still missing something significant about him. What intel does Orochimaru have on him? _

She cursed internally.  _ How will I find out without sharingan to trade him? _

She quickly pushed that thought out of her mind, deciding that Orochimaru was a problem to deal with later. 

Itachi and Sasuke quietly left the hideout. Kisame was standing there, lazily waiting for his partner’s return. “You took too long, I wanted to see if you were dead or not.”

Itachi didn’t miss the high arch of Kisame’s questioning eyebrows.

Sasuke hummed and made eye contact with Itachi one last time before heading back towards Sora-ku.

“If you have a problem with this I can kill you.” Crimson eyes glared menacingly at the tall, blue man.

Kisame just laughed. “It’s none of my business.” He turned to watch Sasuke’s leaping form hurry between the tree tops.  _ It is odd though. Didn’t she mean to kill him just a while ago? _

“Now. Let’s go get that nine tails.”

Itachi clenched his jaw. “He isn’t in Konoha right now.” He lied, quickly. “He has been going on missions exactly so that we can’t pinpoint his location.”

Kisame again laughed. “I always liked a hunt.” He looked his partner up and down.  _ And a flustered Itachi. My, my. What’s going on? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things depart from the typical shippuden plot here, well they already have as Asuma's staying alive. Some of the larger plot points will remain but with Itachi being alive when Sasuke discovers the truth, some things will inevitably be different. I’ll try to add what chapters correspond with what episodes when I remember to do so. 
> 
> Granny cat has been out of the scene for a while, but she is still there. She helped sway Sasuke away from Orochimaru once before with her insight and was one of the only adults to pay any attention to her after the massacre but not even she can stop Sasuke when her mind gets set like this. 
> 
> I do have an explanation for Sasuke awakening the Mangekyo sharingan, but it will be explained later as I don’ think there is any way for Itachi or Sasuke to intuitively know the answer.


	10. Chapter 10

Sasuke observed her surroundings. _No one in sight, I should be able to slip back_ _in_. She eyed the village entrance. _Empty_.

She jumped down from the tree canopy and reentered Konoha, sticking to the sides of the walls to make herself stand out less. _Still no one in sight. Looks like I made it._ She turned down the street leading towards her apartment and walked home, lost in thought.

She missed the silent movement of a bush beside her as a figure stood up and slunk away.

* * *

Danzo sat in silence in his chambers deep beneath the earth. 

He glanced at the ROOT member who had just delivered the news. Sasuke snuck out of the village and had made her way to the old Uchiha hideout, just now returning in the middle of the night. 

This was unsettling news for a variety of reasons. 

The first being, she was disobeying orders from the Hokage to stay put. Danzo didn't care much for Tsunade but brazen acts of disobedience would reflect poorly on him and his already waning power. Thankfully only his ROOT operatives had seen fit to monitor Sasuke's activity, the ANBU had been recalled after one measly week.

_Really. One week of observation is just blatant laziness. Tsunade puts too much thought into the wants of that jinchuriki. Sasuke should have been interrogated much harsher than she was and to be cleared so quickly? Disgusting._

The second reason for concern was that she had stopped by the weapons stockpile of the Uchiha in Sora-ku. Quite an impressive arsenal of weapons and scrolls had been collected by the Uchiha for their coup, none of which had been touched and were still perfectly preserved. If Sasuke was aware of its presence and desired to make use of it Konoha would have a bit of an inconvenience on their hands, to say the least. 

The third reason for concern, and one of the reasons why Danzo was especially worried Sasuke knew of the Uchiha stockpile and what she might do with it, was that Akatsuki member Hoshigaki Kisame, the rogue-nin from Kirigakure, was seen approximately 200 kilometers east of Sora-ku, alone. It is well known that the Akatsuki travel in pairs and that Itachi is the partner of this Kisame. Yet he was alone. _Which begs the question- where was Itachi?_

In order to observe without being detected, his ROOT operatives had to lay low and simply report back. 

This lack of complete information did not sit well with Danzo. _Why did Sasuke sneak away? Where did Itachi go? Did they meet? Neither one is dead so that’s unlikely...unless...What if she learned the truth?_

However Danzo quickly dismissed that thought. Itachi, for all his flaws, was an extremely loyal shinobi. _There's no way he would reveal something like that to her or anyone._

He did, however, pause to wonder if Sasuke had her own theories about that night.

He coughed and took a sip of his tea. He turned to the man standing behind him. 

"We will continue to monitor her in the coming weeks. If need be, Fu, I want you and Torune to formulate an assassination plan. It's best to be prepared and I have the feeling she has now outlived her usefulness to me."

"Yes, Lord Danzo." Fu flickered away. _Sorry, Sasuke. That's the way our world goes. I always liked you, so the least I can do is make it quick._

* * *

Naruto flipped uneasily back and forth in his cot. The boy, Yukimaru, was safe for now. He couldn’t help but feel like a failure though. Just when he thought he was getting through to Guren, she nearly pushed Yukimaru to his death to try and take the three tails. Now who knew where she was. Likely she was getting absorbed by Orochimaru to become his new vessel. He shuddered at the thought.

At least he had saved one person.

He looked at the boy sleeping peacefully. He still loved Guren, that was easy to tell. Now he would be taken to live in an orphanage under the watchful eyes of the ANBU who would ensure his special ability wasn’t abused by anyone else.

Naruto rolled around to stare at the ceiling, his blanket rustling in the silent night. He tried to push his thoughts away and sleep.

But they came creeping back in. He sighed.

With any luck, Yukimaru would find a new person to call home, a new person to think of him. Someone who would return his love and help him grow. A found family, one that would protect him from the creeps of the world. 

Naruto couldn't help but think of the family he found in Team 7.

The original version of Team 7 at least, before it had started to fracture off.

He was used to Sai and captain Yamato by now, but the Team 7 of his youth had a special place in his heart and he just wanted to have that back. 

More than that, he missed Sasuke. He missed seeing her, being with her, going on missions with her. Ever since he returned to Konoha, things had been different. He supposed it was part of growing up but it didn’t make him any less upset about it. 

Things between them hadn’t been the same since his return. She always seemed so distracted by other things. He knew revenge weighed heavily on her mind but he had hoped she would make room for him.

The impatient part of him told him to just go out and hunt down Itachi on his own, just to find him and get him out of the way. But he knew Sasuke would never forgive him for that. 

He thought they were making progress ever since the night he was over holding her hand but she seemed to forget about it,or at least not move forward with it. He knew they both agreed they had more pressing issues going on, but she had barely interacted with him since. He whined and flopped back over on his belly. _I can't sleep. I’m thinking too much._

He slipped out of his cot and out of the exquisite wooden house Yamato had created for them into the cold night. He sat against a tree and looked up at the night sky, getting absorbed in his thoughts. 

“Na-Naruto?” Hinata’s voice surprised him out of his grumbling thoughts.

“Oh. Hinata. I didn’t think anyone else was up.” He looked up at her. “Here, sit down.” He motioned next to him.

A bright red blush covered her cheeks and she stuttered a bit before joining him. 

_She’s painfully shy. But sweet I suppose._

“I know that you’re upset about how things turned out. I wanted to tell you, it’s not your fault because you tried your hardest.” She tapped her index fingers together.

“Thanks Hinata. It’s hard not to feel like a failure sometimes though. I really thought I was getting through to her but I guess I couldn’t do it. Maybe I’m just too weak and,” his voice trailed off turning to a whisper, “worthless.” 

“No!” She shouted out, shocking them both. “I- I mean…”

She paused, blushing an even deeper red before continuing. “Naruto. You inspire me to do my best always.” Her words continued spilling out of her mouth before she could stop them. “I know you like Sasuke, but I have to let you know. I’m in love with you, you make me want to be stronger. I see how you look at her but she doesn’t even give you the time of day. I don’t need you to answer me right now, I know you have your heart set on Sasuke but please, consider me.” She felt her heart pound, proud but shaken she spilled her heart out here. 

_Hinata… likes me?_

She wasn’t ever on his radar, but he began to piece together all the clues from their time at the academy to the chunin exams to now. It all made sense. “Hinata. You’re great, but I don’t know what to say.” _You’re not the one for me._

“Don’t say anything. Just think about it.” She stood up and ran back inside. _I can’t believe I did that!_

Naruto watched her run off. _It’s nice to feel loved, but I don’t feel anything for her. My own confession to Sasuke fell a little...flat but maybe if she knows I have options she would reconsider. Thanks Hinata, it may not be what you planned but your confession inspired me to be true with my own feelings._

* * *

Sasuke stayed up the whole night. If she was going to orchestrate what she had planned, she wasn't going to be able to take any breaks.

In order to get revenge, she would have to pour her energy into this for however long it took to have retribution. 

Her brief return to Sora-ku had been to show Granny Cat that she was in fact, still alive, and to take stock of what was left in the Uchiha weapons arsenal. 

To her satisfaction there was enough to arm a small army.

Despite Itachi’s words to her, Sasuke knew Konoha would have to face the consequences of its actions.

_He doesn't want to admit that even though saving Konoha was his choice, it might not have been the right choice. I won't take that from him, but I will still have my revenge. I'm sorry, brother. This is for our family._

The exact way in which she planned on extracting her revenge was still unknown. The same factors as before remained.

Danzo had Shisui's eye, taking him and his guard down would be difficult to say the least. The Elders had their own ANBU guard to contend with. Lord Third was already dead, a fact Sasuke started to relish knowing the truth behind his actions. 

_It’s not as though you have no allies. There are many who want to see Konoha burn to the ground._

She dared not to think it, but wondered deep in her heart if the people here loved her enough to help with her plans.

_Sakura and Kakashi would never abandon Konoha, they are too blindly loyal. Naruto...might. He has been treated poorly by the village too, and I know he has feelings for me. No. I cant be sure. It’s best to look for help externally. Someone like Orochimaru or Madara._

Sasuke felt an idea click into place in her mind. _Orochimaru could be perfect._

She latched onto the beginning of a plan and begrudgingly crawled into bed. _The solution is there, somehow. I just need to figure out how he can be useful._

She switched her lamp off and stared up at the dark ceiling above her bed. Satisfied she was moving closer to her revenge, she fell into a deep sleep. 

* * *

Itachi left Kisame in a coastal town at a quiet little inn run by an ancient woman. He had said he had business to attend to and Kisame was left playing cribbage with the feisty woman who all but refused to let her guests seclude themselves in their room. 

Itachi supposed that was one of the things he liked about his partner, he may be brutal and violent, but his heart could be soft when he wanted.

He pushed those thoughts aside and made his way to the forest. He stood next to a tall pine tree and crossed his arms, waiting impatiently.

After nearly an hour of waiting, the air began to ripple in front of him. Instead of Madara popping out to meet him, Itachi found himself being sucked into the vortex. _No matter, I can still gain the upper hand no matter where he puts us._

He landed in a pitch black room.

“Itachi. I am sure I know what you plan to do.” Madara’s deep voice boomed from the shadows. “However,I must warn you. You cannot take me down. You could use any combination of Susanoo or Izanami or Izanagi and still fail. I vastly outpower you.”

Itachi remained silent, weighing his options and biding time to make his move. 

“I very nearly defeated the Fourth Hokage and you still think you’re a threat? Even with your full strength you never stood a chance and now here you are, sick and dying. You had better carefully consider how you want to spend your last days on this earth. Because I could kill you now, no problem, or you could spend your final days with your sister, attempting to guide her down the right path.” His words were threatening but his tone suggested he was only trying to be helpful. 

Itachi was not thrown off. “You seem to think that threatening me will bode well for you, Madara. I assure you it will not. I don’t care why you did it, but you brought my sister into this dark world and I will never forgive you for that.”

“That’s fine. I don’t need your forgiveness. However you might want to watch your tone with me before I leave you here to starve you insolent brat. Without my visual jutsu, you will never escape this world, understand?”

Itachi didn’t respond. The silence lingered between them until Madara spoke up again. “I had Zetsu record your little reunion for me. I think we can work together on something.” He paused,waiting for Itachi’s interest to pique. Sensing nothing, he wearily continued. “You’re absolutely no fun, Itachi.”

He cleared his throat, “You don’t seem to intimidate Danzo anymore. He certainly felt fit to mess with your sister. Didn’t you threaten to leak classified village secrets if he did that? Or were those empty words? Because, you’ve been sitting on this little nugget of information and you have yet to reach out to any enemy nations. Could it be you really do value the village more than her? Did he call your bluff?” Madara dug in with each question. 

“Sasuke has returned to the village. If I leak intel, her life will be put at risk just as the village’s security will be out at risk. I should respect her choice and let her try to live a happy life as best she can.” Itachi responded softly. 

“That’s a lie. You can tell yourself that but if you truly believe she doesn’t still have her heart set on revenge, you’re delusional. Only, it seems she has placed her anguish and anger towards a new target now that her darling brother is back on her side. Perhaps the village that ordered her family’s death?” 

Itachi frowned. “You’re the one who’s delusional if you think she’d work against the village after knowing how much I sacrificed for them. Revenge against Konoha would make it all meaningless. You may think you know her, but you’re wrong.” He spoke with conviction, staring in the darkness towards what he assumed was Madara’s general direction. 

Madara sighed heavily. “I never took you of all people for a hopeless optimist.”

The silence drug out between them. 

Itachi broke it first. “Fine, I’ll bite. What do you mean by that?”

“You won’t follow through on your promise to bring down Konoha because that would make your work and your sacrifices meaningless. Even if it comes at the harm of your sister. Danzo knows that. Deep down, you know that. That’s why you are projecting onto Sasuke that she also will not take revenge against Konoha, because then your sacrifice of your entire clan for the sake of the village will be meaningless. But you are choosing to ignore the facts around you. Her face when you revealed the truth was pure hatred. If she had to make the same choice as you, she would not have sacrificed the clan. You two are at odds over that.” Madara stated his truth matter of factly. He could see from the guarded glaze of Itachi’s eyes that he had gotten through. 

“So you see, you have very few options in reality. At least, none that help Sasuke and certainly none that help you cling to some sense of peace over your actions. So I repeat, I think we can work together on something, Itachi. If you’re willing to listen now.” It was impossible to see behind his mask, but Itachi was sure that a giant smirk was covering the man’s face.

Itachi clenched his teeth, grinding them together. At last he spit out, “Fine. I’m listening. What do you have in mind?” 

* * *

Naruto plodded up the stairs to Sasuke’s apartment. His arms were full of bags filled with treats. He knew that she was not a sweets person so his bags were filled with instant ramen and savory chips. He also knew she wasn’t much of a junk food person, but he didn’t want to come empty handed. 

He knocked on her door and waited. He heard a tiny shuffle and a few seconds later Sasuke opened up, looking tired but with a hint of mania behind her eyes. “Naruto? Are you back already? Your mission didn’t last long.”

He shuffled his feet, “Yeah, it was only a few days. Orochimaru was trying to get the three tails but we were able to seal it away. Now Granny Tsunade is all in a huff, trying to get the Kage’s all called together to see what we should do with it.”

“Oh wow. I didn’t know that’s what you were doing. I’m impressed you managed to do all that.”

“Well Sakura and Shizune and Ino and Hinata are the ones who deserve credit! We couldn’t have done it without them.” Naruto really was impressed by the kunoichi, it had been touch and go but their teams managed to keep troublemakers away long enough to subdue the beast. It was an impressive sight to see, the giant turtle like creature getting sucked into a scroll.

“Cool.”

He was surprised by Sasuke’s lackluster response. She was never overly enthusiastic but she always took time to give Sakura credit, and this certainly was an impressive accomplishment.

“Um. Can I come in?”

Sasuke blinked slowly, she turned her head looking at their surroundings, seemingly surprised at their location. “Oh. Yeah, sorry. Come in, I’ve been distracted lately. I apologize.”

Naruto stepped in apprehensively. He lifted his bags up. “I brought food. If you don’t mind eating instant ramen at least.” He smiled at his companion.

“Yeah that’s fine, I should eat. I’ve been…” she trailed off. _I’ve been busy planning out every conceivable way to kill Danzo and the Elders._ “I’ve been distracted.”

“No worries. You’ve been through a lot. Kidnapping, close encounters with the Akatsuki.” He waved his hand dismissively, “But don’t think about any of that now! I’m here to put your mind at ease and show you that you are appreciated!”

Sasuke smiled thinly at him. “Thanks Naruto.” _I suppose I can afford a few moments of rest. There’s not much I can do alone. I want Itachi’s insight anyways._

“I just bought an electric kettle. You can use that to heat up the water.” She motioned vaguely towards her kitchen and Naruto waltzed over, pulling packet after packet of ramen out and setting up a makeshift buffet of snacks. 

“Wow. You really went all out. What’s the occasion?” Sasuke eyed his set-up. _Even dried fruit? He really is pulling out all the stops._

Naruto laughed, a twinge of nerves coming through. “Well, I just really appreciate you Sasuke.” _Plus Pervy Sage always said food was the way to a woman’s heart._

He felt his heart thud in his chest.

He carefully set the food out, taking care to arrange his wares in a visually pleasing manner.

Sasuke watched him carefully, noticing the slight tremble in his hands. She walked up to him and put her hand on his back. “Is everything okay? You seem upset, Naruto.”

“Oh, uh. Yeah I’m just thinking about something that happened during my last mission.” He trailed off.

“It wasn’t as easy as you initially thought? I thought the three tails was sealed?”

“Yeah, that part went fine. There was something that happened after that. Something Hinata said.” He felt his heartbeat pick up pace.

“Oh? She mustered up the courage to actually speak to you? I’m impressed.” _Well, surprised really._

“She did. She uh, confessed her love for me.” 

An awkward silence filled the air. “I see. What did you say to that?” Sasuke asked tersely. 

“I didn’t say anything. She told me to think about it because she knew I liked someone else.” Naruto looked down at his hands. 

“Well. What will you say?” Sasuke turned away, looking at the bare wall of her dining room.

"Sasuke. I'm in love with you." He stated it with purpose, looking intently at her side profile. 

Sasuke felt like she had just been jolted out of a deep sleep. "What?" _What did he just say?_ “In love?” _Do you really mean that?_

“Yeah. I love you. I know that you have other things on your mind right now and I do too, but I don’t think that means we can’t try to make this happen.” He locked eyes with her, trying to figure out what she might be feeling. 

“Naruto. Do you really mean that? Are you messing with me right now?” She asked, daring not to believe him too quickly. _He’s still so immature, if he’s joking right now I’m gonna kick his ass._

“I mean it. There’s no one else but you. I've always admired you and being your teammate over the years has shown me that I would do anything for you.” 

“Anything?”

“Yes, and if revenge is what’s on your mind, if that’s what’s holding you back, then let me help you. Let’s go and end Itachi. I don’t care what it takes, you deserve to be free from him.”

Sasuke was quiet for a moment, taking in his words. Naruto was worried that he had overstepped, but he had to let her know what he was feeling.

Finally, she spoke up.

“Naruto please listen to me. Just listen.” She grabbed his shoulders forcefully and pushed him into the living room and onto her couch. “What I’m about to tell you will sound crazy but I need you to listen and keep an open mind.”

His usual boyish face was somber. "Okay. I’m listening." He was wildly curious about what she had to say and why she was so pushy. _What’s going on with her?_

Sasuke narrowed her eyes and remembered what Itachi had told her. “When the nine tails attacked the village it happened so suddenly and without warning that people began to get suspicious. The Uchiha were regarded as potential culprits and so were relocated further away from the center of the village and were placed under surveillance.” Sasuke took a deep breath in, noticing Naruto’s perplexed yet serious face. “Konoha continued to treat the Uchiha as second class citizens and eventually we got it in our heads to start a coup.” 

Naruto opened his eyes wide in surprise . “What do you mean? I don’t get where you’re going. Sasuke-“

“Shut up. Just listen.” She stared at him intently. “We had no other choice. Konoha didn’t trust us and they were turning the citizens against us. We founded this village and that’s how they repay us?!” She bit her lip and took a deep breath in. “My cousin wanted to stop this coup by placing us all under a genjuts but Danzo took his eye and tried to kill him. When that failed, Danzo ordered Itachi to kill our clan. Out of loyalty to Konoha that’s what he did. Don’t you see? This whole time I was focused on Itachi and revenge against him but the real traitor was here in the village this whole time.”

She grabbed his hands and stared into his concerned blue eyes. “It’s not Itachi I’m after anymore. It’s Danzo. And the village elders.”

Naruto stared in stunned silence.

“Naruto. Will you help me take them down?”

His mouth curled down into a frown. “Sasuke. Who told you that?”

“I went to confront Itachi. That’s when he told me the truth.”

"When was this?!" He shouted.

“Just a few days ago, while you were on your mission. I snuck out.” She admitted.

"You went alone?" He yelled, perplexed and angry. “And you believe him?”

“I saw some documents in Orochimaru’s hideout that corroborate parts of the story. Plus, he is my brother and I know who he really is. I do believe him.” _Do I tell him about Madara?_

“Sasuke. Are you” he stopped himself. _Insane?_ “Sasuke. You know I would do anything for you. You also know my dream is to become the Hokage.”

Her face fell. 

“I’m not saying I don’t believe you."

“Fuck you.” Her voice came out deadly quiet. "You're supposed to be on my side."

"Sasuke! I am! But to talk about killing Danzo is something I can't condone. If what you're saying is true we need to tell Granny Tsunade, she'll know what to do."

"You liar! You said you love me, why are you choosing the village over me?" She groaned. "Why does everyone choose this miserable village over me?"

"I'm not choosing the village over you. I'm trying to protect you. What you're saying could get you killed. Do you understand that?"

"I understand! Of course I do. Fuck! Why won't you listen to me? The village ruined my life. Why don't you care about that?" She felt the tears start to prick her eyes. 

"I do care about that, and if we tell Tsunade she has the power to do something about it. But right now, you can't be talking about things like this. This could kill you, if ANBU heard you talking about killing people they would take you out, no questions asked. Do you understand the gravity of this?" He begged her to feel his desperation, stop being like this!

“Naruto! I know what I’m talking about, I believe Itachi, and Konoha needs to pay. Either help me or not. If you loved me, you would do anything for me!”

“Sasuke, that’s not fair! I would go to the ends of the earth for you, but to plot the murder of the Elders, or this Danzo guy...that’s just not right!”

“Then you don’t love me.” Sasuke crossed her arms angrily. “I thought you cared about me as much as I cared about you. Obviously I’m wrong. I thought you could be someone I loved.” She whispered the last part, screwing her eyes shut. 

“That’s not fair. You’re being manipulative.” Naruto whined. “Love isn’t about murdering people for you! That’s warped, Sasuke! I know it’s hard to understand love, especially with everything you’ve been through but this is wrong! This is so, so wrong!” 

The silence grew between them. The kettle clicked off in the background. 

Naruto looked at Sasuke’s stone cold demeanor, the scowl seemingly etched into her face. “Look, I’m not trying to be insensitive. I agree, these people have to pay for what they’ve done. Let Tsunade handle it.”

“I don’t trust her.” Sasuke spit out between clenched teeth. “And I don’t trust you, not anymore.”

Naruto felt his heart drop. “Please, don’t say that. I love you.”

“Get out.”

“Sasuke!”

“I mean it Naruto, get out!”

Sasuke grabbed the boy by his collar and threw him out of her apartment, ignoring his protests. 

She locked the door behind her and stormed into her kitchen, throwing the table full of food onto its side. She screamed and fell to the ground, howling in rage. 

_No one is on my side. No one is ever on my side. Why am I never anyone’s first choice?_

She curled up on the floor and looked at the upturned tray of dried apple chips. _In the end, everyone picks the village over me._

She tried to hold it back but a lone tear fell out of her eye. Sasuke quickly wiped it away. _No more tears. That solves nothing._

Neither Naruto, who after banging futilely on Sasuke’s apartment door decided to go straight to Lady Tsunade’s for help, nor Sasuke, who was too caught up in her failing mental health to pay attention to her surroundings, noticed the well hidden presence of a man outside her window.

After hearing her blow up and watching Naruto shakily walk away, this man flickered down to the shadows of the alleyway and started leaping back towards ROOT headquarters.

_Ahh young love. Full of turmoil. You should have kept your mouth shut, Sasuke_. Fu shook his head sadly. _You let yourself slip. Now you have to pay. It’s a shame really._ He opened the door to Danzo’s chambers and removed his mask. _I really did like you, but now I have to kill you._

“Sir, it’s worse than anticipated. She has told the jinchuriki everything, he intends to tell Lady Tsunade the truth about the massacre.”

Danzo sighed heavily. “It’s a setback, that much is certain. Gather Homura and Koharu. We should nip this while we have the upper hand.”

“Yes sir.”

“Fu, move ahead with the disposing of Sasuke. Make it look like she did it herself, if that jinchuriki tells people we don’t suspicion falling on me.” 

“Of course, we can make it look intentional.” With that Fu bowed and left to fulfill Danzo’s orders.

Danzo rubbed his temple, feeling the impending headache begin to form. _That bratty, spoiled princess is going to blow her lid when Naruto tells her what happened. I need those two to get up to speed about this before she confronts us._

He briefly wondered about Itachi and what might happen when he heard the news. _It’s no use, we’ll have to kill him too, before he finds out about her death. It's the only way._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke is not mentally stable and she can’t differentiate between healthy types of love. She’s been trying to keep things going for so long and keep things hidden, but it’s starting to crack. Danzo is not stupid and he will do anything to cover his tracks.
> 
> Naruto knows and he is able to see the depth of her pain, and how far gone she is, but now that he understands his feelings for her, he is more determined than ever to keep her on the straight and narrow, it will just be tough.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intended to make this a long chapter to get some plot points moving but I cut it in half so that I could something up. The next chapter should come soon. The weather by me has been beautiful so I’ve been enjoying the sun instead of writing, but I’m getting the urge to write more so the next few chapters should be out around a weekly basis.

Sasuke eventually pulled herself up from the ground and collected herself.  _ Naruto seemed dead set on doing something about what I told him. I’ll have to deal with that, sooner rather than later. _

"What am I doing?" She asked aloud. 

"Well, I’m not sure, but unfortunately I don't think you'll be around long enough to find out." The soft voice of Fu called out from behind her.

"Fu? What are you doing here, why-?" She cut herself off abruptly.  _ Did Naruto already tell Tsunade? No, she wouldn't send ROOT. Danzo. He is trying to silence me, but how did he find out? _

"Are you going to kill me?" Sasuke asked.

Fu smiled softly at her. "You always were sharp, Sasuke."

Sasuke frowned, deeply. "Why?"

"I think you know why." Fu tilted his head and waved forward another figure from the shadows. 

Sasuke didn't recognize this person, but knew from his ability with chakra suppression that he was another ROOT member.

"How did he find out?"

"I don't know what good that will do for you now." Fu reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper.

"Humor me." Sasuke eyed the paper wearily. Having worked with Fu many times before she recognized it as a vessel to hold consciousness. It was a tool Fu used for assassinations as a way to store some of his consciousness while inhabiting another human. If he killed someone whilst in their body he would be dead as well. Storing part of him in a tertiary location helped guide him back to his real self. 

He stuck the piece of paper on the wall. "You were sloppy. You assumed you were no longer being monitored once ANBU left you alone. We watched you go to Sora-ku and we watched you tell Naruto everything you knew." 

Sasuke nodded grimly.  _ He's right, I got sloppy.  _ "You can't honestly believe I will sit here and let you take over my body."

Fu smiled, his teeth flashing in the dim lighting. "Of course not. Ideally we can get this settled without you struggling too much, framing this as a suicide would make dealing with the blowback a lot easier. However, we have back-up plans. I didn't come alone." He motioned towards his partner. "He has a unique ability. I won't go into detail, it pays to not tip you off."

Sasuke was already assessing the situation. The hate and anger inside her, finally pushed down just mere moments prior, was bubbling back up. She felt a tingle in the back of her eyes.

"I really wish it wasn't you, Fu. I know you're willing to kill me, but I do have fond memories of our missions. Killing you will be painful." 

Fu laughed. "You're odd, Sasuke. I did enjoy our time together, but duty calls. I will make it quick and painless I promise. Like going to sleep." 

Sasuke weighed her options. She tried to think clearly but the tingle was turning into full blown pain. She rubbed her eyes.  _ Dammit. Whats going on?  _

She opened her eyes back up and the world had a red tinge to it. 

Fu looked on in shock. "Oh my. It's beautiful. Danzo would love to get his hands on those." 

Sasuke felt a sting of anger run through her. "Like hell I'll let that worm take hold of my eyes."

Without her prompting, a voice in her head yelled out  _ Amaterasu! _

Black flames burst forth and latched onto Fu's arm. He screamed in pain, pulling back and swatting at the flame. His hand, instead of putting out the flame, was on fire. He looked in pain as the two sides of his body started to become engulfed in flames. His partner yelled out to him. "Fu!" 

"Torune! Fall back!" His partner hesitated, glancing between a bewildered Sasuke and his friend, burning alive. He narrowed his eyes and removed his latex glove.

He jumped towards Sasuke. She turned and grabbed a ceramic platter from the ground, still covered in a sticky sheen from the food gently places by Naruto not so long ago. His hand just touched the edge of the plate and it started to crumble away beneath his touch. 

_ So that's his ability. Very well, I can end this without touching him.  _

Fu crumpled to the ground, the flames making their way across his body. Torune switched out of his offensive stance and raced to his side. He slipped his glove back on and took out a kunai, briefly pausing to find a clear spot. He hacked away, cleaving the flaming arm off of Fu at his shoulders. 

Sasuke didn't bother to stick around. She jumped out the window, busting through the glass and down to the street below. 

_ I need to get out of here.  _

She raced down the alleyway, cursing herself for leaving in her socks as the warm fabric started sticking to the freezing ground. She ripped them off and moved chakra to her feet, running away towards the border of the village and climbing over the top, jumping into the relative safety of the forest below. 

* * *

Naruto stood shaking before the Hokage’s door. He raised his fist and banged down, yelling out for Granny Tsunade. 

Shizune pulled the door open and sheepishly ushered Naruto inside. Tsunade stood up behind her desk and began to yell.

“Naruto! What the hell is so important that you’re here in the middle of the night? I’m trying to coordinate a meeting with the Five Great Nations and no one can reach an agreement on anything. I don’t have time for whatever shenanigans you have planned.”

“Granny Tsunade I need you to listen! If I find out you had any hand in what I’m about to tell you.” He stopped, his fist clenched and he started to see the ends of the claws of the nine tails start to creep out, sinking into his palms and dripping blood onto the ground. “If I find out you had anything to do with the Uchiha clan massacre, or kept the truth secret I can’t guarantee I’ll let you off easy.”

Tsunade felt a flash of anger, then an equal amount of concern. “Brat. Don’t you threaten me. What do you mean by kept the truth a secret?”

Naruto stared deep into her eyes and started talking, revealing everything that Sasuke had just told him.

Tsunade slumped back in her chair and pinched the bridge of her nose.  _ This is a whole mess and a half. I shouldn’t believe this story without any sort of proof but it’s something Danzo would do, that I don’t doubt.  _

Shizune felt the presence of a wild, flaring chakra approach them. She quietly dismissed herself to stop the incoming person before they reached the office  _ and potentially hear what Naruto is saying _ . She grimaced,  _ if it's all true we have to keep this under wraps. _

She intercepted the chunin, calmly placing her hand on his shoulder. She recognized him as one of the Hyuga, assigned to village guard duty. "What's going on?" 

"There are black flames engulfing the eastern sector of the village, the firefighters can't put it out and none of our water jutsus can douse it either!"

Shizune gasped, "This is bad! Have the civilians been in that region been evacuated?"

"Currently in process, the guard has been called to that area to assist with that while I was chosen to race here."

"Good work. Come with me." They ran down the hall to Tsunade's door.

They burst through the door, Tsunade quickly ceased her talking and motioned for Naruto to do the same. He missed her cue and continued talking, "We have to do something for her Granny! I really think she'll try to do something reckless!"

"M'lady!" Shizune cut him off. "Theres an emergency in the eastern sector! Black flames that cannot be put out are taking over the area!" 

"What do you mean?" Tsunade's concerned voice merged with Naruto's loud voice "That's where Sasuke lives!"

Tsunade realized he was right.  _ Is this her doing already?  _ “Did any of the guard see Sasuke there?”

“No.” The chunin somberly replied. 

She bit her inner lip. "Dispatch a medical unit to the site, treat all burn victims. Get Sakura over there to coordinate this." 

She looked at Naruto, barely managing to stand still and ready to jump away at a moment's notice. 

"Naruto, keep this topic to yourself." He started to protest. "For now." She said, sternly. "Get Kakashi and head over there, his sharingan should be able to determine what's making up those flames if the byakugan can't." She glanced at the Hyuga guard. He bowed his head. “Yes Lady Hokage, it is something we haven’t seen before. The wielder of this fire jutsu doesn’t appear to be close by either, not that we can pinpoint at least.”

Tsunade cursed. “Right then. Let’s move out!”

* * *

Kakashi was enjoying one of his rare pastimes, relaxing in the bath with candles lit around him.

Their recent bout of trouble with the crystal user and the whole ordeal with the three tails had taken a lot out of him. 

_ At least my comrades are safe. _

No matter what happened during a mission, it was always a point to fixate on as his muscles ached and bruises littered his body.

He slumped down into the water, submerging his head.

_ It’s so peaceful down here. _

He popped back up and wiped his hands dry with a nearby towel. He reached to grab for his book, or rather a collection of letters Jiraiya had mailed to him detailing his plans for the next book in the make out collection, when frantic knocking interrupted him. He sighed and got up, wrapping himself in a towel. “Who is it?” He called out.

Naruto’s voice pierced through, “Kakashi sensei! There’s a fire breaking out and you need to be there, it’s an emergency!”

Kakashi snapped into work mode, rapidly tossing on his uniform and meeting Naruto outside his door in under a minute. He ignored the wet fabric sticking to his legs and the beads of water starting to pool in his mask.  _ Only minor inconveniences. _

“What’s this all about Naruto? Why isn’t the fire department taking care of this?” They sprang forward, Kakashi followed Naruto’s lead unsure of where they were heading. He smelled the acrid scent of smoke and looked off to the distance. If he squinted he could see the smoke billowing high into the evening sky. 

“They’re some kind of special flame. They burn black and can’t be put out. Granny Tsunade was hoping your sharingan could figure out what they were.”

Kakashi nearly stumbled, immediately understanding the gravity of the situation. “Amaterasu. Burning flames that incinerate whatever they touch. I only know of one man who wields that power.” He paused, his anxiety heightened. “Uchiha Itachi has been in the village, there’s no other sharingan wielder who would be able to do so.” He and Naruto continued to race towards the flames, both lost in their own thoughts for very different reasons. 

With one final powerful leap, the two men jumped down by the white medical tent.

Naruto looked at the carnage in stunned silence.  _ Was this really Itachi? It would go against everything Sasuke told me about him. _

Kakashi had been pleasantly surprised to see that some of the responding shinobi had the wit to realize that if water wasn’t working, they should contain the flames. Once the apartment complex had been evacuated, a mud wall had went up around the building. Some flames has spread to nearby, but it was easy enough to tell that the source of the black flames had been the apartment complex.  _ Sasuke’s apartment complex  _ his mind reminded him.  _ Sasuke who is currently nowhere to be found.  _ Kakashi cursed. He tried not to feel concerned but a part of his mind was already sure of the worst.  _ Itachi came back, overtook Sasuke, and now she’s dead or worse by his hand.  _ There was no proof that was the case, but he couldn’t think of any other reason. 

Naruto stared intently at his teacher.  _ He seems so convinced this was Itachi. Should I tell him what Sasuke told me? Would he even believe it? He was one of the ANBU surveilling the Uchiha, maybe he already knows more than he’s letting on?  _

A weary Sakura came up to them, dark bags underneath her eyes. “So far everyone’s seeming to do alright. Most of the dead are shinobi, and one elderly man who couldn’t evacuate in time. No burn injuries to treat, just some issues with smoke inhalation.” 

Kakashi nodded. “We need to get Yamato here, those flames will burn through the mud in a few minutes.” He motioned at one of the kunoichi loitering around and she nodded, running to find Yamato.

Sakura nervously looked around. “This is Sasuke’s apartment, but I haven’t seen her anywhere. Do you think she’s alright?”

Naruto pursed his lips. “I don’t know. I truly don’t know.” He watched as the mud started to dry and crackle, smoke leaking out from the holes. 

* * *

Fu laid on his cot in agony. Torune had opted to save his life, sacrificing their opportunity to take out Sasuke. A part of Fu was appreciative, another larger part was terrified. Danzo would not be pleased. 

Danzo might even kill them both. Well Fu was a goner anyway you looked at it, unable to perform jutsu without his arms. Torune stood a chance, his poison a vital weapon in Danzo's arsenal. 

Fu also worried what his life would be like now. In their line of work many became disabled, and were tossed away to live in squalor off of a meager pension for the remainder of their days. It was a gruesome ending, often resulting in depression, isolation, and occasionally suicide. If he was a rich man he might have been able to afford a pair of prosthetic arms from Suna’s puppeteers. If he still had clan affiliations the Yamanaka would undoubtedly spring for such a luxurious accommodation. Hell, if he was injured under anyone’s orders but Danzo he would likely get  _ something,  _ even a low class prosthetic from Konoha’s medics. As it was, he was laying in a dark room with his shoulders bandaged and a bottle of antibiotics on his side table. 

He could laugh, but that would likely turn into crying and as much as hated his current situation he wouldn’t let Danzo see him cry.

A wave of nausea worked its way through him. He nearly barfed. Torune propped him up and tenderly placed a pill in his mouth. “This will help with the pain. Try to get some sleep.”

Fu could only groan in acknowledgement. 

A masked woman entered the room. “Torune. Danzo’s calling for you.” He nodded and gently patted his friend on the chest. “We’ll get through this, don’t worry.”

He quietly shut the door behind him. The woman stared at Fu in silence. When she stopped hearing the footsteps of Torune in the hallway she stepped closer to Fu and grabbed a pillow from behind his head. “You’ve fulfilled your purpose in this organization and Danzo is forever grateful to you.” She lowered the pillow and held it tightly over his face. 

_ I should have expected this. Torune, please be safe. _

He closed his eyes and in a few minutes, it was all over.

* * *

Sasuke ran for hours. She didn't feel anyone pursuing her, but that was nearly unbelievable.  _ Danzo would never let me get away alive.  _

She was starting to feel fatigued. _Spreading my chakra throughout my body to stay warm is taking its toll on me._ She eased her chakra back from her exposed skin, instantly feeling the cold snap of winter air. _Whatever_ _jutsu I did back at my apartment took a considerable amount of chakra, too._ She let a deep breath out, watching her breath freeze in the air. _I can't just run aimlessly forever._

She sat down on the ground.  _ I have no way of contacting Itachi. Or Madara.  _ She grimaced.  _ I have Orochimaru I suppose.  _

Sasuke knew that Orochimaru would come calling eventually. He had held up his end of the bargain, she would have to pay up and give him a set of sharingan. With Itachi being alive, that wasn't an option anymore. 

Compared to everything else that had been going on, he had been almost removed entirely from her list of concerns. She recognized he held potential for her as an ally, but she already was working too closely with him for comfort. Plus, he would undoubtedly want more from her if she wasn't able to provide him with Itachi’s eyes.

Sasuke shuddered.  _ If Danzo isn't coming after me, I should expect Naruto to be. He seemed pretty shaken when I kicked him out.  _ She thought for a moment.  _ Or maybe he hates me now? For wanting my revenge against village elders and not a criminal. What if no one is coming after me? _

Sasuke looked up at the starry night sky.  _ Then I guess I really am alone. _

A hard shiver passed through her, shaking her to her core. She knew in her heart she wouldn't be returning to the village. It was a freeing feeling, and despite being alone in the dark and the cold Sasuke felt at peace.  _ I'm far away from anyone who wanted my family dead.  _ She also felt a sadness, wishing she would have at least had time to grab some mementos and a change of clothes. 

She took a deep breath in.  _ It's now or never, I don't see myself having any other options. _ Sasuke pressed her curse mark and waited to feel the presence of Orochimaru.  _ He can be useful to me once more.  _ She shuddered as he crept up in her subconscious.  _ Orochimaru. I've left the village, and I have a proposition for you.  _

She sat beneath the tree and quietly listened as he gave her coordinates to his hideout, then she once more covered her body in chakra and raced away towards him.

She pushed away images of Anko from her head, of all the stories of his brutality that she had told Sasuke throughout the years.  _ I need his help, I need his power. I'm sorry.  _

* * *

Naruto could barely hold himself together.  _ Tsunade told me to keep this to myself but we're wasting so much time here! _

He watched the people milling around the street. Some looked on in devastation, some with passing morbid curiosity. Sakura had finished coordinating the medic response and the white coated shinobi were putting the finishing touches in their patients. 

Yamato had joined them shortly after and had removed chunks of earth from the village, carrying the burning flames elsewhere to eventually choke itself out. 

Kakashi seemed to be on high alert, but even he sensed that the crisis was mostly averted by this time of night. Naruto looked at the horizon and saw the brightening light starting to creep up.  _ I guess morning would be more accurate.  _ He whined audibly, drawing a quick look from his sensei.  _ We’re wasting too much time!  _ He huffed and turned towards Kakashi. “It seems like things are settled here. I have to get back to granny Tsunade now!”

“I think that’s wise. We still haven’t seen Sasuke. I’d say it’s safe to assume that she’s been taken. We should get a rescue team organized. I’ll come with you to see Lady Tsunade.” Kakashi looked towards the Hokage’s office.  _ I just hope we aren’t too late.  _

Naruto was elated.  _ Finally!  _ “Great, let’s go!” He turned to run off, Kakashi trailing shortly behind him.

_ Sasuke please be okay.  _ Naruto repeated that phrase like a mantra, willing it to be true. 

* * *

Sasuke looked at her surroundings in apprehension.  _ Was going to him the right choice?  _

Orochimaru sat across from her, a spread of food separating them atop a wooden table. "Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with the food. I wouldn't harm you." 

Sasuke wriggled in her chair, the cold of the metal sticking to her thighs. Once again she cursed her decision to leave in her pajamas.  _ Not like I had much choice anyways.  _ She wondered briefly about Fu, not that she was particularly close to him but he had been kind to her. If she knew Danzo, Fu would be dead by now. Both as a result of his maiming, he would be no use to him with no arms, and as a result of his failure to kill her, leaving a loose end.

Sasuke heard her stomach growl and saw Orochimaru smirked. Begrudgingly she grabbed a slice of pear from the plate and ate it. 

"Now. Tell me what's happened. I sent you off to kill Itachi and retrieve me a pair of sharingan. Now both of you are alive, and I have nothing." He folded his hands in his lap and crossed his legs, patiently awaiting her reply. 

Sasuke kept her face relaxed. “Things have changed. I realized Itachi wasn’t my enemy. Danzo is, primarily. The elders too.” She crossed her legs. “I know you’re withholding information from me about Madara. You wanted the sharingan in exchange for it but I have a better offer.” She folded her hands and placed them softly in her lap, mimicking the man before her.

“Really? What would that be?” Orochimaru asked mockingly. 

“I'll let you use me as your next vessel.” She stared straight at him, smiling to herself when she saw a flash of surprise on his face. 

“Why would you offer that up so willingly? I can’t imagine I have much of interest to offer you in return.” 

“You have the manpower and the intel, I have weapons. I know you still have a grudge against the village, I’ll help you attack Konoha and you help me take out Danzo and the elders.” She paused, adding “and I want you to tell me what you know about Madara.”

Orochimaru chuckled. “That’s a tantalizing offer. Are you sure revenge is worth the trade off? I’d love nothing more, of course, than to get you as my vessel. I’m just surprised it’s happening after all this time.”

Sasuke pursed her lips. “My options are limited.”

_ Now that’s what I love to hear.  _ Orochimaru smiled, a big toothy grin sending chills down Sasuke’s spine. 

“Now. Tell me, how many weapons do you have, and how quickly can you bring them to us?”

* * *

Tsunade was having a rough day. Her village nearly burnt down, Naruto instantaneously shattered her image of her mentor Lord Third, and now Danzo was slinking around on damage control. 

To make matters worse, Naruto and Kakashi just burst through her door.  _ Can I get a moment of peace? _

“Granny-“ whatever Naruto had just been about to spout out died in his throat. He looked at Danzo and his eyes narrowed. In a low growling voice he turned to Tsunade and asked, “what is he doing here?”

_ An excellent question, Naruto.  _ “He has some news about Sasuke. I’d like to continue this conversation in private.” She shot Kakashi a look, he understood and attempted to usher Naruto out the door. 

“No way! We need to go after her now! How can you trust a guy like that? Anything he says is gonna be a lie!”

Tsunade held her groan in.  _ You idiot! He was here to gauge how much I knew, now he knows I know everything! We have no surprise upper hand! _

“Naruto! That’s enough!”

“Lady Tsunade, I think it’s best that he is around for this. Kakashi too.” Danzo stated somberly. Without waiting for her approval Danzo continued, “Sasuke attacked two of my best men. One has unfortunately succumbed to his injuries, the other will be fine. She attempted to burn them alive with the very same black flames that nearly engulfed the village.”

_ Seems like an exaggeration, but it is worrisome she set that fire and left.  _ Tsunade thought to herself. 

Kakashi reeled in surprise. “How is that possible? That technique requires the mangekyo sharingan? Only Itachi has used Amaterasu before? When?” He cut himself off, his mind racing with questions. 

“Sasuke would never intentionally do that! She had to be defending herself. Why else would you send your shinobi to her apartment?” Naruto yelled. 

“She was planning on betraying the village, she needed to be brought in.” Danzo calmly stated.

“You mean killed.” Naruto spat out.

Kakashi felt the hairs on the back of his stand up. “Naruto. Let’s go. They should continue this conversation in private, like the Hokage requested.” He grabbed into the boy’s arm.

“No! I want him to explain himself. Why did you think she was going to betray the village? Why did you send people to kill her? Was it to try and hide the fact that you ordered Itachi to kill his clan?!” A deadly silence overtook the room. Naruto felt an unearthly chakra bubble up inside him and a grumbling voice spoke to him. 

_ Use me. Let me take over. We can take him down and bring Sasuke back.  _ He felt a rush of hatred go through him. 

Kakashi slowly lifted his headband, exposing his sharingan. 

Tsunade quietly spoke. “There’s no need for that, Kakashi. Naruto. I have heard your concerns. I need you to remove yourself from my office and go home. I will summon you when I’m ready and get a search party sent out for Sasuke.” She tried to send him a message with her eyes,  _ leave with Kakashi, _ one he did not seem to pick up on. 

Danzo scoffed. “Absolutely not. He needs to be locked in a sealed room. He’s already shown he doesn’t respect your orders when Sasuke is concerned. We don’t need him throwing around wild accusations, potentially inciting a riot. The citizens of Konoha need to trust their authority.”

At that moment the door creaked open and Homura and Koharu stepped inside. “We’ve been briefed on the situation.” Homura started, working his way over to a bench beside Danzo.

Koharu sat down beside him. “Yes, it is imperative we bring Sasuke back. She attempted to burn the village down, and she’s spreading lies. We can’t afford to have our stability threatened. She will have to undergo a trial and be punished appropriately.”

“That’s not fair!” Naruto shouted. 

“Kakashi, please take him away.” Tsunade waved them away.

“No. I will have my men escort him to a secure place. We have to keep him safe.” Danzo challenged her.

“I’m the Hokage, I gave an order. Respect that.”

Homura cleared his throat. “I agree with Danzo. The jinchuriki should be sealed away. He’s too reckless.” Koharu chimed in. “I agree. If you have issues with our decision Tsunade don’t forget we have collective authority to usurp your decision. It’s in the best interest of the village to put him away, temporarily.”

Tsunade gripped the edge of her desk cracking it in two.  _ If they think I’m going to cede on this they have another thing coming.  _ “Absolutely not.”

Naruto listened as they argued about him. He felt the anger creep up in him.  _ This is pointless!  _ “What are you all doing?! Sasuke is missing, we need to go after her!”

The chorus of their arguments began to blur together. Naruto yanked his arm out of Kakashi’s grip and jumped out the window. Within seconds he was surrounded by ROOT members. “I’ll take you all down if you don’t get out of my way!” Naruto growled menacingly at them, channeling the nine tails chakra.

However their attention to him was pulled away with a resounding  _ boom  _ from the opposite end of town. The sound of the border wall crumbling away in giant chunks falling to the ground  _ cracked  _ in the distance.

“We’re under attack!” 

Naruto felt his heart sink.  _ I need to find Sasuke! _

—

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’ve been waiting for romance, next chapter will deliver! Thanks for reading.


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